


Why Am I Half-God

by bmcb



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/F, Percy Jackson Alternate Universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-06
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-07-29 17:52:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 78,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7693828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bmcb/pseuds/bmcb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ten seconds after finding out she's a demigod, Beca Mitchell finds herself riding on the back of her best friend's motorcycle, chased by rhino-sized monstrous fanged dogs, towards some camp just for special people like her. Oh, and did she mention, her best friend is apparently half-goat. When did her life get so weird? (Percy Jackson AU)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Small Black Dogs Are Scary

**Author's Note:**

> Hi people! This is my first time writing a fanfiction. Uh, yeah. Percy Jackson AUs are always cool, right? Hopefully it works out and hopefully you will enjoy this! Here goes...

Beca got off the bus and followed the rest of the crowd of kids into the high school. All the sophomores were chatting animatedly, excited for their end-of-the-year field trip to Central Park taking place later that day, right after homeroom. Beca was grateful for the small break the school was offering them. There was a week until finals and then the school year would be over. Honestly, Beca was surprised that she’d made it this far. It had been a while since she lasted an entire year in a single school.

She walked through a series of hallways until she reached her locker, which unfortunately was right beside a snooty popular girl’s locker. Her name was Alice. She was in Beca’s year and was always surrounded by a mob of people, gossiping in the middle of the hallway. And Beca hated it when she had to get to her locker while Alice was chilling there with her crowd.

She tried to slip past a bunch of big guys standing right in front of her locker, but failed to go unnoticed.

 “Well, look who it is.”

Beca tried to ignore Alice’s taunting as she fumbled with the lock combination. Everyone around Alice laughed and parted so she could have a clear path to strut right up to Beca. “It’s the midget who’s so stupid she can’t even pass a single class.”

Beca continued trying to ignore her, but she could feel her neck getting hot. What Alice said was offensive, but it wasn’t that far from the truth. She found it extremely difficult to do well in her classes, what with her ADHD and all. Even though she wasn’t failing all her classes, it had been tough trying to keep all her grades above even a D-. Now she just had to pray that she didn’t fail her finals next week, and she might actually be able to successfully pass sophomore year.

“Is it really that hard to try harder?” Alice said. Beca still had her back to the girl, trying to shut her annoying whiny voice out. It wasn’t working. She could feel herself getting angry. She wasn’t even trying to open her locker anymore, just stupidly spinning the lock around and around and around. Her hands were jittery, they could never stay still for long anyways. “Is your brain really that small? Or maybe you don’t have one at all, hmm?”

“Can you leave me alone?” Beca finally said. Her voice was shaking with anger. Great.

“Aww, is the poor little thing upset?” Alice said. The people surrounded them laughed, making comments filled with false sympathy.

Suddenly a new voice cut through the taunting. “Leave her alone, Alice.”

Beca finally turned around to find Alice backing up just a little bit as the guy approached. She was relieved to see her best friend Jesse approaching cautiously, pushing past people to stand next to Beca. But she was also a little worried for him, because –

“Aw, Swanson, are you standing up for your _girlfriend_?” Alice said, turning on Jesse immediately.

Jesse opened his mouth to retort, but not before someone in the crowd yelled, “Stand up, my ass. He can barely even stand straight with that stupid limp. What a cripple.”

Jesse’s face turned red. Someone pushed him and he staggered, struggling to right himself again. Beca grabbed him immediately and helped him lean against the lockers. She shot a glare at the onlookers. “Don’t make fun of him.”

But they kept making fun of him. Both him and her.

“Beca, let’s just get out of here,” Jesse whispered to her, grabbing her arm and pushing his way past everyone. Beca really wanted to go back and give each of those kids a punch to the face, a feeling that only worsened when they laughed every time Jesse limped down the hallway.

They made it into their first class early, and settled down in adjacent seats as they waited for school to start. Jesse’s face was dark, and it made Beca a little sad. Jesse was such a nice guy, and he’d never take his anger out on anyone.

“Thanks for coming to save me,” Beca said.

“Don’t worry about it,” Jesse said affectionately, wrapping an arm around Beca. “As long as you’re alright, I’m alright.”

“I’m fine, but I never really got a chance to actually open my locker,” said Beca, making a face.

“It’s okay,” Jesse reassured her. “We can share my textbook.”

“Thanks,” said Beca gratefully.

More kids came in as the start of class came closer and closer. Suddenly Beca asked under her breath, “Don’t you ever get sick of people making fun of your leg muscle disease?”

Jesse shrugged nonchalantly, but Beca knew him well enough to tell he was uncomfortable. “It’s okay. I can deal with it. And besides, I get a free pass out of PE every day, so I’m not complaining,” he said, winking.

Beca laughed. Just typical for Jesse to look on the bright side of things.

Finally, the bell rang, signaling the start of school. The Mythology teacher had finally finished grading their second semester review tests, and began the class by handing them back out.

She dropped a packet in front of Jesse, who picked it up and glanced at the grade scrawled in the corner. Beca craned her neck to look over Jesse’s shoulder. “What’d you get?” she asked.

“92,” he replied. He was already starting to flip through the pages to see what he’d gotten wrong.

“Dude,” said Beca, automatically reaching over to hug Jesse and ruffle his hair. He yelped and pulled her hand off his head, but laughed and returned the hug. For some reason he was a bit touchy about people messing with his hair. Which was silly since he didn’t appear to care how long it had been growing out. And she told him this.

“When are you gonna get a haircut?” Beca teased. “I’ve never seen it this long before.”

“Come on, this isn’t that bad,” Jesse protested, reaching up to pat his head of curly hair.

The teacher dropped Beca’s test down in front of her. She picked it up, trying to make out what the red scribble in the corner was. The fact that her teacher graded in red pen was bad enough for Beca’s dyslexia. But no, she just had to have terrible cursive handwriting too.

Beca finally determined that the number was in fact a 73. Then it took her a couple moments to realize that she hadn’t failed the test.

“Becaw!” And judging from Jesse’s excited yell, she hadn’t read the number wrong. “Nice! I knew you could do it!” Now it was her turn to get smothered in a hug.

They were causing a racket and probably attracting a lot of looks, but Beca didn’t care. Not only had she passed the test, but she’d come out of it with a C.

“We’re totally going to celebrate,” Jesse told her. “Extra juice boxes on the field trip picnic, right?”

Beca rolled her eyes. But she was looking forward to the field trip. Two more classes, then homeroom, and then the sophomores would be loaded onto buses and headed for Central Park, Manhattan.

 

…

 

Beca regretted ever going on the field trip. If she had known the mess she was about to get herself into, she never would have begged her dad for the ten dollars needed to go on the stupid trip.

The kids were split up onto three separate buses and Beca and Jesse just happened to get on the one with Alice and her crew of snobs. They were acting tough and rowdy in the back of the bus, so Beca and Jesse sat together towards the front. That didn’t stop Alice from chucking wads of paper at them the entire ride there. Every time a piece of paper hit one of them straight on the head, the kids in the back cheered. It was infuriating, but Jesse had his arm around Beca protectively, and so she calmed down.

The teacher chaperones set up a series of blankets and began handing out sandwiches and juice boxes for a picnic. Beca waited patiently on the corner of a blanket, watching Jesse approach with his arms full. He dropped a sandwich and three juice boxes onto Beca’s lap, grinning.

“You know you’re only allowed one juice box per person,” Beca reminded him.

“I didn’t know which flavor you liked the best. It’s really not that hard to sneak an extra or two when the teachers aren’t looking.”

“Of course,” said Beca, obviously unconvinced. They both knew that Beca liked fruit punch the best.

“Shh,” said Jesse, unwrapping his sandwich and taking a bite. “No complaining.”

Half an hour later Beca felt a kick to her side. She spun around to find Alice looming over her with a couple of her cronies. She groaned inwardly.

“It’s the midget,” Alice said.

“Leave me alone,” said Beca flatly. She’d had enough of Alice for the day. It was nice out and all she wanted to do was enjoy this small break from stressing about finals with Jesse.

“Sorry, no can do,” said Alice, raising her foot for another kick. Beca stood up before she had the chance.

“Beca, no…” said Jesse, raising a hand up like he was going to try pulling Beca back down again.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Beca said. It came out harsher than she’d meant, she was so angry. Jesse winced and shrunk back. Oops. She’d have to apologize to him later. But for now, she turned back to face Alice, hatred bubbling in her stomach.

Alice just looked at her expectantly, a smug expression on her face. “What’s the matter?”

“Kick me again,” Beca said. “I dare you.”

Which was probably a really stupid thing to say, and she had no idea why she said it. But she couldn’t focus on anything. She was clenching her fists to keep herself from decking Alice. All she could feel was electricity running through her veins.

Of course Alice would rise to her bait. She lifted her foot back, and Beca closed her eyes, waiting for the impact.

It never came. There was a hiss, and then Alice screamed. When Beca opened her eyes again, Alice was on the ground, clutching her foot and howling in pain.

“Beca.” She turned around and suddenly Jesse was standing up beside her, grabbing her arm. “Beca. We should go.”

He sounded both worried and alarmed, but before they could go anywhere, the teachers had arrived. “Uh, what happened?” asked one of them.

“What does it look like?” shrieked Alice. “She kicked me! Beat me up and pushed me to the ground!”

“You spent the entire trip here throwing your old homework at me and you came over here and kicked me first,” spat Beca. She was too frustrated to even deny Alice’s wild claims.

“No I didn’t! She’s lying!”

“Girls, just calm down, will you?” the teacher said as Alice’s friends helped her to her feet. “If you keep on fighting like this we’ll have to take you back to school and give you detention. And there’s only two weeks until school’s over.”

Alice was breathing heavily, staring murderously at Beca. She said nothing.

“Do you guys need detention to set you straight?”

Both of them mumbled no.

“Okay. I’ll give you another chance. If this happens again, we’ll have to take action,” said the teacher, and he walked away.

They cleaned up the picnic after a little while and split up into fifteen-person groups to wander the park together. Each group was led by a chaperone. After Beca had calmed down, she actually began enjoying the trip, talking and laughing and cracking jokes with Jesse.

A couple hours later someone in their group let out a squeal. Everyone turned to see what the girl was pointing at. There was a tiny black dog scampering around the park. It had no collar on and there was no owner in sight.

“It’s so cute!” said the first girl, rushing over to pet the dog.

“It is adorable,” Beca said as everyone else in their group, including the chaperone, crowded around the dog, who willingly let them pet it.

Jesse didn’t appear to agree. In fact, he was staring at the dog with wide, fearful eyes. “Dude, what’s wrong?” Beca asked him. “You look like you’re looking at a monster.”

“You’re absolutely right,” said Jesse in a serious tone. He grabbed her arm. “We should go. For real this time.”

“What, are you scared of dogs or something?” Beca laughed at him, resisting his frantic attempts to pull her away.

“Beca, now is not the time to be fooling around,” he said urgently.

“I wanna pet the dog!” Beca protested, gazing at the adorable little puppy, barking happily as the kids bent down to scratch its head and belly.

“No you don’t,” said Jesse, his voice getting higher and higher. “Beca, please…”

Suddenly, the dog caught sight of Beca and barked, pushing its way past the crowd of kids and bounding straight for Beca. She knelt down, ignoring Jesse’s increasingly urgent pull on her arm.

“Aw, see, he likes me, Jesse,” she said.

“Beca!” he yelled.

The dog began growing in size. Giant fangs were protruding out of its mouth and its eyes began to glow red. It kept growing and charging for Beca, until it was the size of a rhino.

Beca screamed.

So did Jesse, but Beca didn’t hear him, because the giant monster dog had tackled her to the ground.

Kids were screaming and running away, and all Beca could feel was the dog’s disgusting slobber all over her face and its razor-sharp claws digging into her sides. She wanted so desperately to believe she was in a nightmare, but the pain and the hot blood running down her stomach told her otherwise.

She tried to push the monster dog off of herself, but the thing weighed like a million pounds. Its fangs were inches away from her face. All she could think about was how badly she did not want to be impaled by those things.

“Hey!”

The dog stumbled off of Beca, staggering. Someone was pulling Beca up off the ground. It was Jesse. She leaned heavily onto his left side as the monster dog regained its footing and got ready to pounce again. Before he could, Jesse held out his hand.

“Hey. Stop right there,” Jesse commanded.

Miraculously, the monster dog seemed to listen, if only barely, drooling onto the ground and growling.

“What do you think you’re doing out here? Who summoned you?” Jesse demanded.

Summoned? What? Beca tried to focus on their conversation and the fact that Jesse was talking to a giant evil dog. The blood was staining her shirt red.

The dog roared. More people ran away.

“Okay, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jesse said. “But I’m going to need you to back off.”

The dog roared again and stepped closer.

“Back off,” Jesse said again, stronger this time. He pulled something out of his pocket. Were those…reed pipes? Apparently it was enough to make the dog back off. “Yeah, that’s right. I may not have a weapon to kill you but I can drive you nuts. You don’t want that, do you?”

The dog growled, but it was taking cautious, nervous steps back.

“I know you don’t. Now go on back down to the Underworld.”

It scampered away.

“Underworld?” mumbled Beca.

“Easy there,” Jesse said worriedly, reaching to catch Beca as she slid off his shoulder. “Let’s get you to the chaperone and clean up your wound. Come on.”

The group they’d been wandering around Central Park with was already heading off together. Beca was confused. Did they not care that she’d just been mauled by a gigantic monster dog thingy?

“Hey,” she said, struggling to catch up to the group. A kid in the back turned around and looked at her, confused. “A little help here? I just got mauled by the dog back there.”

“What dog? Are you alright?” the kid said, alarmed. He motioned for his friend to get the chaperone, who was up at the front of the group.

“Um. The little black dog that everyone was just petting. And then it started charging at me and got bigger and attacked me?”

The kid looked at her like she was crazy. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. We never met a dog.”

“But – what?”

By then the chaperone had arrived, picking up Beca in his arms. Jesse made up some ridiculous story about how Beca had fallen on a bunch of sharp branches or something and started bleeding. She would have slapped him, if only she wasn’t woozy and dead tired and in pain.

They took her to some first aid area. Jesse never left her side.

“Why is everyone acting like that stupid dog didn’t exist?” Beca asked him.

“Don’t – it’s complicated. Just get some rest for now, Beca,” said Jesse, sighing in defeat.

 

…

 

In the days leading up to finals, Beca never got attacked again. But that didn’t mean she didn’t see more monsters. It wasn’t just huge evil dogs anymore. Beca could have sworn that she saw a lady who had feathery chicken wings for arms. Twice she spotted people who appeared to only have one eye on their heads, smack in the center of their faces.

The most infuriating part of this was that no one else seemed to notice these new monsters cropping up in Beca’s vision. More than once she tried to ask her classmates about the incident at Central Park, but they always acted just as confused and clueless as before. Beca was going crazy.

She would have resigned herself to an asylum, if not for the fact that Jesse seemed to be the only other person who could see the monsters too. He never looked at them or explicitly stated that they were present, but a few seconds after Beca spotted one, if Jesse was with her at the time, he’d pull on her arm and send them walking down a different path.

With the added pressure of seeing crazy monsters all the time, Beca could barely focus on studying for finals. Being nervous all the time made the words swim on the page even more wildly than usual. She tried squinting and concentrating, to no avail.

She remembered what her dad told her at the beginning of the school year. What he told her at the beginning of every school year.

“If anything out of the ordinary happens, come and talk to me about it,” he always said. “It is very important that you let me know.”

Beca wasn’t exactly on great terms with her dad, but he trusted her and she trusted him. She figured seeing monsters every few hours counted as out of the ordinary.

So the day before her first final, she went to him.

After school, she unlocked the door to their small, dingy apartment with the key she kept in her pocket. “I’m home, dad,” she called once she entered.

There was a little bit of shuffling and a thump before her dad appeared in the doorway to his office. “Hey, Beca,” he offered. “Rainy out?”

“Not yet,” she said, dropping her backpack onto the couch. “Clouds look pretty scary though. There might be a thunderstorm later tonight.”

Her dad nodded and dipped back into his office. Beca grabbed a snack from the kitchen, pulled her textbooks out from her backpack, and crashed on the couch, determined to study hard and actually pass her finals.

Two hours later though, that resolution had crumbled into a pile of dust. Beca slammed her face into the pages of scattered words and got up. Might as well talk to her dad about her situation now.

 She trudged towards his office and leaned against the door frame. “Hey, dad.”

He looked up, surprised. “What’s up, Beca?”

“I have to tell you something.”

His expression immediately morphed into one of concern and alarm. “What’s the matter? Did something happen?”

Beca took a deep breath. “Um, yeah, kinda. Remember when I tripped and fell and scraped my side at Central Park?”

She wished her dad wouldn’t look as scared as he did. It made her feel even more nervous. “Yes?” he supplied cautiously.

“I didn’t fall. Well, I did. But that’s because I got attacked by a huge red-eyed dog with fangs.”

She heard him whisper “oh, no,” under his breath, which did not make her feel any better. He tried to put on a wide smile, and said, “Maybe…maybe you were just imagining it, huh? Maybe you were too stressed out from finals, haha.”

“Dad,” Beca said flatly. “You’re always telling me to come to you if anything weird happens. Well, I think this counts as weird. And ever since I got attacked, I’ve been seeing weird things in public. Like chicken ladies and stuff. Almost every single day. It’s driving me crazy.”

Her dad tried to wipe the look of horror off his own face. “Have…have you been attacked since the first time?”

“No,” said Beca. “But that’s because I feel like Jesse can see them too. He’s always pulling me away before I can get a good look at them.”

“Good, good,” her dad said, more to himself than to Beca. He turned to look up at her. “I think we should take a little trip. A vacation out somewhere in the middle of nowhere.”

“Tonight?” Beca said incredulously. “Dad, I have finals tomorrow! Why don’t we wait until after summer break starts?”

“No,” her dad said. He had stood up by now, walking towards Beca until he was standing right in front of her. He grabbed her shoulders, and she knew he was dead serious, despite the crazy circumstances. “We have to go. Now. Pack a bag, we’ll head out in fifteen minutes.”

Outside, thunder rumbled in the sky.

Her dad slipped past her to head towards his bedroom, mumbling something that sounded like “at least she lasted four years past the regular time.” Which made her continue feeling worse.

Beca stumbled back into the living room, thought for a second, and then grabbed her backpack. She dumped out all the books and brought the bag to her bedroom. It only took her five minutes to pack a couple sets of clothes and her toothbrush. When she emerged from her room, she found her dad waiting impatiently near the front door with a bag of his own in his arms. He was tapping on the side in an agitated manner, fumbling with the zipper aimlessly.

“Are we leaving now?” Beca asked.

There was a bunch of thudding coming from outside. Her dad’s eyes widened in alarm. “Oh, no,” he whispered in horror.

Beca swore she could hear snarling and growling as the thudding continued. Suddenly there was a pounding on the door.

Both of them jumped back at the sound, terrified, but then a voice sounded through the wood. “Mr. Mitchell, please let me in! It’s me, Jesse!”

Beca blinked. Jesse rarely ever turned up at her apartment unannounced. This was getting weirder and weirder. Her dad stumbled forwards and pulled the door open, yanking Jesse in and slamming the door shut behind him.

They all stopped to catch nervous breaths while the scuffling and snarling continued outside. Something let out a large roar, causing Beca’s dad to freeze in fright. But Beca was only staring at Jesse’s legs.

His hairy, pants-less legs. With hooves instead of feet.

“What the hell,” was all Beca could manage to get out. Jesse saw what she was gaping at and grinned sheepishly.

“Um, yeah. I’ll explain later,” he said, turning to Beca’s dad. “Look, Mr. Mitchell. They’ve already caught onto her trail. We have to get out of here. Now.”

“Are you taking her to camp?” Beca’s dad asked Jesse.

“Yeah,” said Jesse. He noticed that both Beca and her dad were carrying bags. “Are you coming with us?”

“I can’t,” Beca’s dad said. “I’m mortal, remember? Now that you’re here I won’t have to go. But…why are they attacking now? I’ve kept her safe for sixteen years.”

Beca just stared at the two of them as they talked, trying to make sense of what they were saying. She was going to a camp? But school hadn’t ended yet…Didn’t either of them care?

Well, she thought, maybe it was a little hard to care when there was a ton of bangs and angry dog sounds pounding against the walls of her apartment.

“I don’t know, Mr. Mitchell,” said Jesse. “But something big is happening. All the really powerful ones are getting chased after up and down the country. We should head out.” He grabbed Beca’s arm, ready to lead her outside.

When Beca noticed that her dad made no attempt to follow them, she called out, “Wait! You really aren’t coming with me? Where am I even going? Help? Dad? What’s going on?”

Her dad was looking at her sadly. “Beca,” he said, “you’re going to the one place in the area that can keep you safe. I promise you’ll get your questions answered in time, but right now we need to get you to safety. Don’t worry about me, it’s you that the monsters are after. Please, go. And maybe, in time, you’ll find your mother.”

“My mother?” Beca said. “But you said Mom died when I was a baby…”

“Please, Beca,” said her dad. Was he about to cry? He pulled her into a big hug. “I’ll see you soon. Please, just get to safety!”

And with that, Jesse was dragging her out of her apartment, her backpack slung over one shoulder, sprinting towards the road.

He was running so quickly, Beca thought numbly. So naturally, with those hairy animal legs. Running straight for a…motorcycle?

“You can drive a motorcycle?” Beca shouted over the increasingly loud snarls. “Since when?”

“Since forever,” Jesse answered, swinging one leg over the seat. “Get on!”

“I thought you had to be eighteen to get a license?”

“Well, I’m thirty-two, so,” Jesse responded as he started the engine.

“What?!”

“Satyrs age twice as slowly as humans do,” he mumbled.

Beca opened her mouth to reply to that strange comment, but at that time, she caught sight of the pack of dogs trying to tear down her apartment.

At that time, the dogs caught sight of her as well.

“We should go,” she squeaked.

The motorcycle roared to life and Jesse shot down the road. The big, monstrous dogs, six of them in all, immediately began to chase them.

“Hellhounds,” Jesse hissed as he rounded a turn sharply. Beca clung to him, holding on for dear life. “Never seen so many on the surface before.”

“You called me a powerful one,” Beca said. She knew it was currently a terrible time to be asking Jesse weird questions, but she had to know. She was going to go crazy if she didn’t know. “What am I? A powerful what?”

“You’re a demigod, Beca,” he said, keeping his eyes trained on the road as he swerved past cars waiting in line in the evening traffic, which led to a lot of honking. Behind them, Beca could hear cars crumpling as the hellhounds crushed them bounding from one to the next.

“I’m a what?”

“You never wondered who your mom was? Why your dad never had pictures of her? That’s because she’s a goddess. A Greek goddess, to be specific. She fell in love with your dad, and had you. A half-mortal, half-god child.”

“What? Are you sure?”

“Have you been seeing the monsters trying to attack you? Yes, I’m sure. Demigods have a scent that attracts monsters. Since you’re particularly powerful, you’ve got an even stronger scent. Honestly, I’m surprised you’ve lasted this long.”

Beca had no answer for that, she was trying so hard to wrap her head around this information. Turns out, even if she did, she wouldn’t have been able to respond, since a hellhound leaped forward right at that moment and its claws slid on the motorcycle’s back tire, sending them flying into the air.

They landed fine, just barely. Beca sneaked a glance behind her and saw all six hellhounds giving chase. She quickly turned back around and buried her face into Jesse’s back. He smelled like a farm.

“So, you’re a satyr,” she said conversationally, despite the fact that they were trying to run away from a bunch of six-foot tall dogs.

“Yep,” said Jesse. “Assigned to protect you from harm.”

Beca blinked, but pressed on. “Those actually exist?”

“Well, I exist, so I assume so,” Jesse said, a little bit irritated.

“And the gods. They exist too?”

“Yes.”

“Like Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo.”

“Don’t throw their names around like that.”

“But how?”

“Magic,” said Jesse, and they swerved onto another street again.

The hellhounds were getting even closer now. Beca could feel hot breath and dog slobber on the back of her neck. Jesse seemed to notice this too, because he said, “Check the little compartment under the seat. On your right side. There’s a small sword in there.”

“A what?” Beca said, but she leaned down and flipped the top open. Sure enough, there was a two-foot long blade stored there. She pulled it out and gazed at it for a second, a shimmering copper color.

“It’s not much, but it’s Celestial Bronze, so.” Jesse shrugged. “Monsters hate Celestial Bronze. If one of those dogs comes too close, just take a swing at 'em.”

“Thanks,” said Beca sarcastically, but she turned around, one hand on Jesse’s shoulder, the other gripping the short sword tightly. She came face to face with a hellhound. Yelping, she slashed wildly and grazed the hellhound's nose with the tip of the blade. The dog howled but did not stop running. It jumped into the air, straight above the motorcycle. It was going to crush them –

Beca stabbed the air above her, and as the hellhound landed, the sword sank straight into its chest. With one final roar, the monster exploded into a pile of dust.

“Not bad,” Jesse commented as Beca coughed frantically, dusting herself off with the hand she’d been holding onto Jesse with.

“I just inhaled a bunch of dead monster,” she choked out.

They were off the road now, zooming through a plain of grass and slowly heading up a hill. She could hear the remaining hellhounds close on their tail as the hill got steeper and steeper.

“Brace yourself,” Jesse told her. “We’re arriving at our destination!”

But before they could reach the crest of the hill, a hellhound knocked the motorcycle over. It went flying to the side. Jesse pushed her away before the motorcycle landed, saving both of them from getting crushed. Beca tumbled to the ground, but before she could make sense of her surroundings, Jesse was pulling her up again.

“We are so close to the border,” he was gasping urgently. “We just have to get into the valley.”

A snarl sounded behind them.

Beca turned, side-by-side with Jesse the satyr, and found herself surrounded in a ring of angry, drooling hellhounds. She lifted up her sword wearily, trying to fend them off.

“Hey, now, fellas,” Jesse said, holding out his hands in a placating way. “How about we talk this out? Explain why you’re here?”

One of the dogs growled.

Jesse sighed. “I don’t get why everyone keeps saying that. Seriously. Just because my friend here’s got a strong aura, doesn’t mean it she’s guilty. That’s ridiculous.”

The dogs growled again and stepped closer. Jesse pulled out his reed pipes again. He blew a frantic tune and suddenly all the hellhounds were on the ground, whimpering.

“What happened?” Beca asked as Jesse grabbed her wrist and they started running up the remainder of the hill.

“Momentarily stunned them,” Jesse said. “We don’t have much time. Come on!”

Soon enough, the hellhounds were back. Maybe Jesse and Beca could have outrun them on a motorcycle, but on foot, they stood no chance.

One of them jumped on top of Beca, its fangs digging into her shoulder. She cried out, swinging her sword backwards and catching the stupid thing across its neck. It exploded into dust, once again blanketing Beca in a fine layer of dead hellhound.

Jesse helped her up and pushed her to the top of the hill. They were so close now. Jesse grabbed her bad shoulder and she yelled in pain.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry,” Jesse said, horrified.

“It’s okay,” Beca gasped, blinking through the pain. “Are we there yet?”

They turned. The remaining four hellhounds were getting ready to leap. Out of nowhere, Jesse shoved Beca and they dived towards the other side of the hill, just as the hellhounds bounded forward.

Miraculously, Beca was able to register the fact that the hellhounds slammed into some invisible forcefield while she and Jesse made it past safely. They were safe.

That was right before she hit the ground, hard.

Of course she hit the ground hard. Of course she landed on her bad shoulder, the one that had been stabbed through by a hellhound fang two minutes earlier.

She felt like she was going to black out from the pain. Jesse fumbled to his feet and trotted over to Beca, desperately trying to pull her up into a more comfortable position.

Through her half-conscious haze, Beca saw Jesse yell for help to down below. Judging by the sun hanging low in the sky and the small crowd of kids sitting around an open pavilion-type area, it was probably dinnertime, wherever the hell this place was. Suddenly half of the kids had gotten up, sprinting at full force up from the valley. At the head was a girl with fiery red hair, who reached Jesse and Beca first.

“New camper?” the girl asked, kneeling down next to Beca. “What happened?”

“We were chased by hellhounds,” Jesse said. “She got hit pretty bad in her shoulder.”

“I see,” the girl said, whistling. She waved her hand gently in front of Beca’s face. “Hey you. Can you hear me? Can you see me?”

The answer to both questions was yes, but Beca was too tired to say so.

“Okay, we need to get her to the infirmary.” The girl turned to the kids standing behind her. “Come on.”

 


	2. First Day at a Camp For Weirdos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! Thanks to everyone who commented on the first chapter, it really means a lot to me to see people supporting the story! Here have some more.

Beca wished she could just pass out so that she didn’t have to deal with the burning pain in her shoulder. At least the pretty red-haired girl with the strong arms carrying her did it gently, with as little jostling as possible, like she’d carried people bridal style a million times before.

They ended up in a big wooden house painted sky-blue. The red-haired girl led her into a wing of the house filled with rows of beds, and set her gently down on one. By then, Beca was finally floating in and out of consciousness, so she barely registered what the girl was doing with her shoulder wound.

The girl finally laid back in the chair she’d pulled up to the bed after bandaging Beca’s shoulder and force-feeding her these little weird cubes of jelly or something. Jesse was standing right behind her. Both of them were just gazing down at her, which would have made her uncomfortable if she wasn’t half asleep already.

“What’s her name?” the girl asked, curious.

“Beca,” said Jesse. “Beca Mitchell.”

The girl nodded, interested. “How old is she? She seems a bit older than the typical campers who come in.”

“She’s sixteen,” responded Jesse. “I’m not sure how she’s stayed under the radar for so long, either.”

“Any idea who the godly parent is?”

“No clue,” Jesse admitted. “I was thinking she might even be Big Three, her aura’s so strong, but she’s got a mortal dad.”

“Oh.” The red-haired girl seemed surprised by this too. “Maybe it’s Athena then. Some of those kids are pretty powerful.”

“Maybe. You okay if I ditch you here now? I’m done with recruiting campers for the year, so I’m gonna go down to get a haircut.”

“Sure.” The girl watched Jesse get up and leave, then turned her gaze back to Beca. Which she did not know because she was fast asleep by then.

 

…

 

When she woke up again, the sun was high up in the sky. She’d slept through the night, and most of the morning and afternoon, it looked like.

“Hi Beca,” said a voice beside her bed. It was Jesse, grinning his goofy grin down at her. “Glad to see you’re alive and well.”

“Alive, sure,” Beca said, groaning as she tried to push herself up into a sitting position. “Well, I don’t think so.”

“Hey, be careful with your shoulder,” Jesse said. “I mean, Chloe patched it up pretty well but don’t put too much strain on it for the next few days.”

“Who’s Chloe?”

“The girl who nursed you back to health.”

“Oh.” Then Beca caught sight of Jesse’s head. He’d finally gotten a haircut into the length it usually was at, and Beca could see the tips of tiny horns peeking out of his brown hair. “So you were being serious about gods existing and stuff.”

“Dead serious,” said Jesse. “Um, surprise?”

Beca just stared at the baby horns on his head, which frankly were adorable. “Can I poke?”

Jesse sighed and let Beca touch his satyr horns.

“Oh yeah,” said Jesse. “Chloe told me to make you drink this.” He handed her a glass of what looked like golden-brown syrup with ice cubes in it. “Let’s go outside and enjoy the sunshine a little bit.”

So Jesse led Beca outside to the porch of the house. They settled onto two deck chairs side-by-side, giving them a clear view of the meadow ahead of them and the rolling hills in the distance. The breeze was calm and cool against Beca’s skin. It felt nice.

“Drink your drink,” Jesse whispered, poking Beca on the arm.

Beca laughed and lifted the straw to her lips. “What is it?”

“Just drink it.”

Beca drank it.

She was not expecting it to taste like warm, delicious brownies. The ones her dad liked to bake for special occasions. As she drained the glass, she could feel herself getting stronger, feel energy seeping back into her bones.

“Taste good?” Jesse was grinning at her.

“Oh yeah,” Beca said. “I feel great.”

“Good,” said Jesse. “Now you’re not allowed any more or else you might spontaneously combust.”

Beca couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.

Someone was walking around the porch to where they were sitting. It was the redheaded girl from last night.

“Hey, Chloe,” said Jesse brightly.

“Hello,” said Chloe. “You recovered just fine?”

“Yeah,” said Beca. “Uh, thanks. For that.”

Chloe laughed. “No problem. It’s my job.”

“Oh yeah, Chloe,” Jesse said suddenly. “Are you busy right now? I’ve got to go to a Council meeting in the woods. Do you mind showing Beca around the camp?”

“Oh, sure!” said Chloe. “Are we going now?”

“Sure,” said Beca. She was getting tired of sitting around and doing nothing anyways.

They walked around to the front of the porch, and Beca had to stop and just take it all in.

The valley went all the way up to the ocean. There were buildings everywhere along the landscape, all of them Greek-style. There was an amphitheater, the pavilion Beca had seen last night, and an arena, and a sandpit, and a lake, and an archery range, and a nature trail.

“Whoa,” said Beca.

Chloe laughed affectionately at her. “Pretty cool, right?”

Beca was staring at the dozen or so kids who were playing volleyball in the sandpit. All of them were wearing bright orange shirts. “Where are we?”

“Camp Half-Blood,” said Chloe. “The only safe haven for kids like me and you.”

“Oh.” Beca suddenly didn’t feel so good anymore. “So. Jesse was serious about that.”

“Serious about what?”

“The gods. The Greek gods. They’re actually real?”

“Yeah,” said Chloe.

“But…what?” Beca was waiting for Chloe to laugh and say, _Just kidding!_ Or something like that. But she never did.

“I know it’s hard to believe. We all went through the same mindset when we got here.”

“When did you get here?”

“I was eleven,” said Chloe. “I’m eighteen now, which makes me one of the older campers here. Usually it’s hard for demigods to make it into their twenties before being killed by monsters.”

Beca felt her heart rate quicken at that rather unpleasant confession. But she had so many questions, so she pressed on.

“So I’m a demigod. And you’re a demigod.”

“That is correct,” said Chloe.

“And my mom is a goddess. An honest-to-goodness immortal, undying, powerful goddess.”

“Sounds about right.”

“But how?” Beca was now patting herself down anxiously. “I don’t _feel_ very godly. Are you sure I’m half-god? Because I feel pretty stupid sometimes. I can’t even pass a single class in school.”

Chloe laughed again. Somehow, without even having to say anything, Chloe’s laugh made Beca feel a bit better. It was gentle and pleasant and not at all mocking, like the laughing Beca was used to hearing.

“Let me guess,” said Chloe. “You have ADHD. Maybe dyslexia too.”

“How did you know?” Beca said, surprised.

“Because I do too. Almost everyone in this camp does,” explained Chloe patiently, like she had to do this all the time. “You don’t have ADHD because you’re stupid and lack focus. It’s the complete opposite. You focus on too many things at once, which is helpful when fighting monsters and keeping your reflexes and energy up. And you’ve got dyslexia because your brain is hardwired to read Ancient Greek. So of course it’s a struggle to read English.”

“Oh.” The explanation sounded ridiculous, but Beca found herself believing Chloe’s words.

Chloe showed her the various places in the camp, from the volleyball pit to the strawberry fields to the forest and then the armory. Everywhere she went there were kids around, ranging from as small as around eight to as old as Chloe. There were kids practicing with a bow and arrow at the archery range, canoeing along the lake, chilling in the amphitheater, and even poking around the horse stables.

“You said everyone at this camp is a demigod,” said Beca.

“Yes,” said Chloe.

“So who’s your godly parent?”

Chloe grinned. “My dad’s Apollo.”

Beca wracked her brain, trying to remember what she learned from her Mythology class. Now she understood why her dad made her take it in school. “So your dad is the god of medicine. And archery. And…music, right?”

“That’s correct,” said Chloe.

That explained why Chloe was so good at healing people.

“Who’s my godly parent then?” asked Beca.

“No one knows,” Chloe told her. “You have to wait until they claim you. Which shouldn’t take long at all. Expect it within the next few days.”

After they went past the dining hall pavilion, Chloe finally led Beca to the cabins. They formed a giant circle around a fire-pit in the dead center, which was surrounded by various Greek statues, flower beds, and fountains. All the cabins looked so different and weird. And magnificent, at the same time.

“This is where the demigods stay at night,” Chloe said. “You sleep in the cabin that belongs to your godly parent.”

They approached the center of the ring, so Beca could get a better look at each one. Each one had a giant brass number above the door. Besides that, they had absolutely no similarities.

“This is all we got now,” said Chloe, “but we’re still in the process of building more.” She gestured to another wing outside the current circle of cabins, where a bunch of building materials were lying on the ground. “The two at the head are Zeus’s and Hera’s cabins, One and Two.”

They were the biggest and the most magnificent. But they looked empty. “Doesn’t anyone live there?” Beca asked, confused.

“Well, Hera doesn’t have mortal kids. So that’s why. There used to be a guy, Jason Grace, and his sister Thalia who lived in cabin one. But they’re both off in college now.”

The Poseidon cabin, number three, was also empty. Chloe told Beca that there used to be a guy who lived there. The famous Percy Jackson. But he too, was currently studying at a college somewhere in California.

Cabin Eight was the only other cabin that was empty. “Artemis pledged to be a maiden goddess forever, so she doesn’t have any kids,” Chloe explained. “But she has a group of hunters who sometimes stay in her cabin when they visit.”

They visited a few other cabins, like number five, where a guy named Bumper was yelling his head off outside the bright-red painted house that was lined with barbed wire at the top. They saw a bunch of pretty girls lounging outside a house that smelled so intensely of designer perfume.

Finally, once they were done looking at all twenty cabins that were currently built, Beca blurted out, “If I don’t know who my mom is, where am I staying?”

“In Cabin eleven,” Chloe said immediately.

“Hermes?” Beca asked, gazing at the beat-down house. It looked the most like an ordinary summer camp cabin. There was a caduceus hanging above the doorway. “Why Hermes?”

“He takes in all newcomers, being the god of travelers and all,” Chloe said. “You’ll stay there until you’re claimed by your godly parent.”

The interior was more crowded than many of the other cabins, but not too crowded. Most of the bunks were occupied.

“Hi everyone,” Chloe called from the doorway. “This is Beca Mitchell. Beca, welcome to cabin eleven.”

“Is she a regular or she undetermined?” someone yelled.

“Undetermined,” said Chloe.

A tall blond girl stepped forward, extending her hand for Beca to shake, which she did. “Welcome to the Hermes cabin, Beca,” she said. “I’m Aubrey Posen, head counselor.”

“Uh, hi,” said Beca.

“Luckily for you, we’ve got just one extra bunk left. You can drop your stuff down there, make yourself feel at home. You’ll be staying with us until you figure who your real mom or dad is. Which shouldn’t take long.”

“Um, okay,” said Beca, who moved towards the corner of the cabin, where the last remaining empty bunk was located. She didn’t have anything on her except for the backpack of clothes, so she dropped that on the bed and went back outside, where Chloe was chatting with Aubrey while waiting for Beca to come back out. They appeared to be close friends.

“Ready to go?” Chloe asked cheerfully. Beca nodded. Aubrey gave Chloe a hug, and then they were off again.

They visited a few more areas. There was a metal shop, where kids forged their own weapons. Currently, there was only one kid in there, a girl with powerful arms hammering away at a sword blade.

“How’s it going, Cynthia Rose?” Chloe asked.

“Pretty good.” Cynthia Rose lifted the blade to inspect it closer. “I can’t decide if I like this blade design or not.”

“I think it looks amazing,” Chloe said.

By the time the tour was over, Beca was exhausted. She and Chloe were sitting in one of the flower beds at the center of the cabins, watching a couple Hermes kids playing basketball against one of the hoops.

“Well,” said Chloe brightly, “Dinner’s in fifteen minutes, at seven-thirty. Just follow Aubrey, she’ll lead your cabin down to the mess hall. I’ll see you later!” And with that, she got up and dashed towards cabin seven, a building made of what looked like solid gold that glowed brilliantly even in the dying light of the setting sun.

Beca found her way back to cabin eleven, where everyone was either chatting or fooling around. She watched a couple younger boys attempt to prank Aubrey by filling her bed with shaving cream.

Suddenly both boys found themselves in a headlock. “Hey fellas,” Aubrey was saying, her tone dangerously light and pleasant. “What did we say about trying to ruin your big sister’s sleeping area?”

Beca found herself straining to hold back laughter at the boys’ terrified expressions.

Before long, a conch shell horn sounded in the distance, and Aubrey was yelling at all of them to get up and out. Everyone in the Hermes cabin scrambled outside and followed the rest of the kids, satyrs, and nymphs parading up the hill towards the mess hall pavilion.

Marble columns lit with torches surrounded the pavilion, where twenty long tables were arranged around a central fire brazier. Every single table was covered in a white cloth and belonged to one of the cabins. Some of the tables had only a couple people sitting there. The Hermes cabin had like twenty.

Suddenly a guy with a horse body stood up and started pounding his hoof against the marble floor. “To the gods!” he shouted, raising his glass.

Everyone else said, “To the gods!”

“Who’s that?” Beca whispered to Aubrey.

“That’s Chiron, our centaur instructor,” Aubrey replied.

“Like _the_ Chiron? The one from the myths?”

“That’s him.”

“But…but he’s like three thousand years old.”

Aubrey shrugged, like being three millennia old was no big deal.

The nymphs were coming around, carrying giant platters of so many different kinds of food. There was barbecue! Beca filled her plate up with a little bit of everything that was offered. She was starving and couldn’t wait to eat.

But before she could take a bite, she saw that everyone was getting up and bringing their plates of food to the bronze brazier in the center of the pavilion. “What are we doing?” Beca asked, bewildered, as she got behind Aubrey in line.

“We’re burning a bit of our meal for the gods. They like the smell.”

“What?”

They reached the fire. Aubrey tossed a small bread roll into the fire and said, “Hermes.”

Beca was holding a cluster of grapes in her hands as she approached. She didn’t know what to say. She wished her mom would claim her.

She threw the grapes into the fire and left to head back to the Hermes table.

Ten minutes later Beca found out that just because the campers started out at their correct tables, it didn’t mean they necessarily stayed there. Someone had slid into the seat next to Beca, right up against her. She freaked.

“Hi!” It was Chloe. “How’re you doing?”

“Pretty good,” said Beca, trying so hard to ignore the fact that their shoulders were brushing.

“You tried the brisket yet?” Chloe asked. “It’s really good.”

“Um, no, not yet. Hahaha.”

“I think you’re scaring her,” said Aubrey. She was looking at Beca’s flustered expression with an amused grin on her face.

Chloe stayed with them for the rest of dinner. When everyone was done with their meals, Chiron the centaur rose again and stomped his hoof for attention.

Another guy stood up. “Dionysus,” Aubrey said immediately, before Beca could ask.

“Like the god? Of wine?”

“Yes.”

“What’s he doing here?”

“He got put on probation here for messing with a nymph,” Aubrey explained. “Don’t question it. And don’t get on his bad side either.”

Dionysus began talking reluctantly. “I can’t believe I still have forty years to put up with you brats. I mean, our activities director Chiron would like me to announce that the next capture the flag competition is on Wednesday. Currently the laurels belong to cabin five.”

The table behind Beca’s burst into cheers. Bumper was pounding on his chest like an angry gorilla.

“Whatever,” Dionysus continued. “Also, there’s a new camper, named Reggie something. Or whatever.”

Chloe grinned and nudged Beca, who rolled her eyes.

“Stop looking at me now,” Dionysus whined. “Can you guys leave? Don’t you have a silly campfire to attend? Shoo.”

The campers cheered. Chloe, Aubrey, and Beca followed everyone else down towards the amphitheater. Aubrey sat down along one of the lower rows, and Beca sat down next to her. She was confused when Chloe kept going.

“Aren’t you going to sit with us?” Beca asked.

Chloe smiled at her. “I’m a child of Apollo, silly,” she teased. “I have to go lead the campfire songs!”

“Campfire songs?” Beca said, bewildered.

A couple minutes later the Apollo kids were leading everyone in a sing-along. And Beca found out that Chloe was a wonderful singer.

She didn’t even notice she was staring until Aubrey bumped into her. “What?” she said, a little too quickly, looking up at Aubrey, who was holding out a stick with a marshmallow on it. She was looking at Beca knowingly.

“Come on, Beca,” said Aubrey. “It’s time for s'mores.”

When the sing-along was over, Chloe came over and joined Aubrey and Beca at the campfire, talking and laughing and cracking jokes. More kids came over to fool around with them, including a really hot, really tall girl with dark brown hair.

“Hey. You’re the new camper, right?” the girl said, winking at Beca. Both Chloe and Aubrey burst into laughter when Beca didn’t respond, her eyes wide.

“Um, yes. That’s me,” Beca finally managed to say. She could feel her face getting red.

“Stop it, Stacie,” Aubrey said, laughing, giving the dark-haired girl a friendly push. “You’re scaring her!”

“What?” Stacie protested. “I just wanna make the newbie feel at home.” She turned back to Beca. “Hi. I’m Stacie Conrad, daughter of Aphrodite.”

“That explains a lot,” Beca muttered under her breath. Everyone laughed.

Jesse managed to find his way to Beca later into the night, along with another friend of his, a boy named Benji from the Demeter cabin. Beca spent the rest of the night sandwiched between Chloe and Aubrey, joining in their wild jokes and infectious laughter. Not a single one of them made Beca feel left out. She felt included and loved. It was a wonderful feeling.

All too soon, the campfire was over, and another conch horn sounded through the air, signaling that the campers needed to return to their cabins. As they walked along the path under the light of the rising moon, Chloe said, “So, Beca. How’d you like your first day here?”

“It was awesome,” Beca admitted. “I…I actually felt like I belonged. And everyone was really nice to me.”

“That’s good,” Chloe said, giving her a wide, genuine smile. “Well. I’ll be off. Get a good night’s sleep, okay?”

“Mkay,” said Beca, yawning. She was exhausted. She followed Aubrey back to the Hermes cabin, where she found all her stuff still somehow intact on her bunk.

She checked her blankets suspiciously for any sign of shaving cream before she clambered in, and she fell asleep instantly after that.


	3. Capture the Flag, But Not For Amateurs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND NOW IS MOAR.

During the next few days, Beca’s life settled into a rhythm. She was put in all sorts of activities and classes to help her excel at being a demigod and stay alive.

Every morning Chloe taught her about the different gods and goddesses as well as lectured her on various myths. Eventually Beca began learning Ancient Greek, which turned out to not be so difficult.

For the rest of the day, she spent her time cycling through various outdoor activities, trying to find one she was good at. She tried her hand at things like running, wrestling, archery, and even metalworking. Aubrey and a couple other head counselors watched her curiously, trying to figure out who her mom was.

When they found out she was at most mediocre at everything, they were confused.

“Maybe she’s a daughter of Aphrodite,” suggested Stacie, watching Beca stare wide-eyed at Cynthia Rose while the latter expertly crafted a new sword in the metal shop.

“Don’t be rude,” said Aubrey.

“It can’t be long before your mom claims you,” Chloe said to Beca reassuringly. “It’s already been a while. It could happen any moment now.”

As the days wore on, Beca began to feel more and more at home. Almost all the campers were friendly. She began to get used to the sword training and the lava fireball climbing wall and the rowdy dinnertime followed by the various evening activities they did. Another satyr even hobbled over the border line on Tuesday afternoon, followed by an exhausted but uninjured young demigod. Beca saw it happen while she was attempting to spar with Aubrey nearby, but never actually got to meet the boy until Beca returned to the Hermes cabin right before dinnertime and saw him huddled in the corner inside a sleeping bag. There were no more free bunks available.

He looked so lonely, Beca felt bad.

“Hey,” she said.

The boy looked up at her. He had muddy green eyes and short dark brown hair. He looked no older than thirteen or fourteen.

“Um, hello,” he said cautiously.

“Is that, uh, uncomfortable down there? Because we can switch off if you want. With my bunk.”

The boy shook his head. “It’s okay.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

Beca shrugged and went over to Aubrey to chat a little bit while they waited for the call for dinner.

The next day Aubrey had to show the new kid, whose name Beca discovered was John Smith, around the camp. Her time slot midday that was supposed to be for sword practice was therefore empty, so Chloe took her to the archery range to try her hand again with a bow and arrows.

“Why are we doing this again?” Beca grumbled as they headed towards the range. “I thought we were trying to figure out which goddess was my mom? Artemis is a girl god, but you said she was a maiden, right? So no babies from her. But last time I checked Apollo was a boy god. Unless they can make gay babies? Can gods do that?”

Chloe laughed. “I’m impressed you remembered that much from our morning lessons. Seems like you don’t pay much attention sometimes,” she said playfully. “But no. I’ve never heard of anyone in camp with two biological dads or moms. We’re going to practice our shooting just to get better at it. You never know when the skill could come in handy.”

“Like _you_ need practice,” said Beca. “Your dad is literally the god of archery.”

“Oh, hush,” scoffed Chloe. “I lean towards the medical side of the spectrum. I’m better with healing and singing.”

They had reached the targets. On Chloe’s first shot, she hit the red circle smack in the center.

“I’m better with healing and singing,” Beca mimicked in a high-pitched voice.

Chloe smacked Beca on the shoulder.

At least she didn’t make any more bulls-eye shots after that, which made Beca feel a bit better about her fifty-fifty target hit rate.

Chloe watched Beca take a couple more shots, then she was suddenly right behind Beca and was taking her arms in her hands. She moved Beca into a better position and kept her hands on Beca’s the entire time and basically loaded another arrow for her.

“I know how to do this,” Beca said, feeling extremely embarrassed by the excessive amount of contact. “I can do it.”

Chloe just smiled and pulled Beca’s hand away from the string, and the arrow flew, hitting extremely close to the center of the target.

“You’re mean,” Beca sniffed.

A little while later another girl joined them, seating herself on a nearby stump to watch the two girls practice. Chloe noticed her first.

“Oh, Fat Amy!” she said, clearly surprised. “What are you doing out here?”

Beca raised her eyebrow, like, _Uh, why’s her name Fat Amy?_

“I missed exercising, you know,” Fat Amy responded. “Going for nice runs in the meadows and all…”

Chloe waited patiently for Amy to continue, like she knew she was lying.

“Okay, actually, it’s because I had a nasty nightmare a couple days ago and every time I go back into my cabin, the same dream feeling returns.” Amy fidgeted with the hem of her shirt.

“Oh no,” said Chloe. “How bad is it? How come you never told anyone?”

“I dunno, man,” Fat Amy said, sighing. “I live in a cabin full of dreamers. We’re gonna get bad ones sometimes. This one was just a little bit scarier than usual…”

“Cabin full of dreamers?” Beca asked. “Is your dad Hypnos?”

“Maybe,” said Amy.

“Cool,” said Beca.

“What was it about?” Chloe pressed on. “It might be important.”

Amy was clearly struggling with her thoughts. “It’s kinda hard to explain? I know it was really dark and black and kinda scary. And someone really powerful was really, really angry. They were stomping things up and saying stuff that sounded like ‘how dare they try to trick me.’”

Chloe’s brow furrowed as she tried to make sense of the dream.

“But yeah,” said Amy. “Every time I go back into the Hypnos cabin I get the same feeling over again, the dark and ominous one. So I’ve been crashing out with Bumper the past two nights.”

Chloe frowned. “Maybe you should tell Chiron about this,” she said. “Especially if you’re so scared to set foot in your own cabin that you’ve been…sleeping…with Bumper.”

“Do I have to?” Amy said, pouting.

“Yes.”

Amy sighed and got up from the stump, hobbling up the hill back towards the Big House.

“Who’s that?” Beca asked when Amy left.

“Fat Amy,” Chloe said. “Daughter of Hypnos, same age as you, in fact. I believe she first arrived at camp three years ago.”

“Why do you call her Fat Amy?”

“She calls herself that,” Chloe said, shrugging.

Beca took another shot at the target and hit just the edge of the outermost ring. Her arm felt heavy and strained, weighed down by the big, awkward bow in her hands.

“I think that’s enough for today,” Chloe said, taking Beca’s quiver and slinging it over her own shoulder. “You’ve gotten a lot better.”

“Um, thanks.” The praise made Beca feel stupidly happy. “So, what now, then?”

“I’ve got nothing to do for the rest of the day,” said Chloe. “And I figure most people are getting worked up about the capture the flag match tonight. So, why don’t we take a little walk?”

“Sure,” said Beca.

They dropped the bows and arrows off in the armory and toured Camp Half-Blood again. The breeze smelled deliciously like fresh strawberries, which led them towards the strawberry fields. There, they found Jesse and Benji hovering around a patch of strawberries near the edge of the field.

“Hello Chloe. Hi Beca,” said Jesse, smiling when he saw them approaching.

“Hello,” greeted Beca. “Whatcha guys up to today?”

“For some reason this corner of the fields didn’t grow out as well as the rest, so they sent in Benji to help fix the situation,” said Jesse.

All three of them watched as Benji poked a green, shriveled strawberry gently with his index finger. Almost instantly, the fruit began to swell and redden.

“Wow, that’s cool,” said Chloe as he moved to the other unripe strawberries around. Benji blushed.

“It’s the least I can do,” he said. “I’m no good at anything except growing stupid plants, so that’s what I spend my time with.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Jesse told Chloe and Beca. “You should’ve seen the time he got super pissed at an Ares kid and made vines shoot out from the ground and nearly strangle the guy.”

All of them laughed, although Benji turned a few shades redder.

“Oh yeah, watch this,” Jesse said, pulling out his reed pipes. “I’ve been practicing this for a while and I think I got the hang of this.”

He blew a simple tune on the pipes, and all the insects that had been crawling on the plants filed straight down to the ground in an orderly line. Jesse didn’t stop until all the bugs were a fair distance away, leaving the strawberries insect-free.

“Wow, useful,” Beca said sarcastically.

“Next time you want to eat moldy, half-eaten strawberries then, just hit me up,” said Jesse pointedly.

“I was kidding,” Beca said, laughing. She punched Jesse lightly on the shoulder. “That’s some impressive music skills you got there.”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Jesse. “Can’t wait to see what hot stuff you’re made of, though.”

“I wish.”

After a brief silence where they continued to watch Benji fix up the remaining strawberry plants, Jesse said, “So, you excited for capture the flag tonight? Who’s Apollo going to ally with this time?”

“Not sure yet,” Chloe said casually. “Athena cabin offered to swap chores with us for two weeks if we sided with them. So that’s probably the way we’re going to swing.”

“I heard the Ares kids managed to convince the Nike cabin to join them,” Jesse told her.

Chloe grimaced. “That’ll be fun to deal with.”

“What are the teams going to be like?” Beca asked.

“Well, it’s not usually set in stone until the actual event,” Chloe said. “But typically, Athena, Hermes, and Apollo make a triple alliance, since we’re the three biggest cabins. And then maybe we’ll have a couple of the smaller ones like Dionysus or Hypnos or something.”

“Are Ares and Athena usually the team leaders?” Beca asked.

“Not _all_ the time. But yeah, mostly.”

Beca felt a little bit more at ease knowing she’d be on Chloe’s team when the event happened later that day.

Except she was wrong.

Right after dinner was over that day, and the plates had been cleared away, two kids from each of the cabins of Athena and Ares ran in holding giant gray or red-painted banners, respectively. And then the teams were announced.

The first alliance, blue team, consisted of Athena, Apollo, Demeter, Hephaestus, Hypnos, Nemesis, and Hebe.

The second, red team, was Ares, Hermes, Aphrodite, Dionysus, Iris, Nike, Tyche, and Hecate.

Beca, Aubrey, and even Stacie were on the opposite team of Chloe.

Chloe caught her eye as they split into two roughly fifty-person groups and winked at her. Beca felt her heart skip a beat. She had a feeling Chloe would spend the entire match trying to take her down, and even though Beca had been at camp for six days now, that was absolutely nothing compared to Chloe’s seven years of hard training.

Chiron stomped his hoof for the campers’ attention and began to explain the rules. Equipment was handed out. Aubrey easily tossed Beca a million pound shield as if it were a paperweight, but Beca cringed under the weight.

“Do we really have to use these?” she complained. “This thing is almost bigger than I am.”

“Would you like to get skewered?”

Beca caught a glimpse of Chloe from across the pavilion again, carrying a bow and inspecting a very sharp bronze-tipped arrow. “No, going to bed tonight without becoming a shish kebab is now my number one priority,” she said hastily.

“Good.” Aubrey was grinning down at her, having followed Beca’s line of sight to see what had scared her.

Everyone cheered when the conch horn sounded and the two teams began to depart for opposite ends of the forest. Aubrey had to go on ahead to talk strategy, albeit reluctantly, with Bumper.

Beca managed to find Stacie in the crowd of demigods without tripping and falling and making a complete fool of herself. “Hey,” she said, already a bit breathless. Then she squinted at Stacie, who was carrying no equipment except for a tiny bronze knife. “Um, aren’t you scared of getting like, impaled or something?”

“Eh,” said Stacie, shrugging. “I doubt anyone is heartless enough to try destroying this hot body.”

“That’s true,” agreed Beca. “So, uh, what do we do?”

“I dunno,” said Stacie. “You can help me and Donald guard part of the border. All you have to do is stand there and knock out any blue team people you see running at you. Easy-peasy.”

“Who’s Donald?” asked Beca.

Stacie pulled the tall Indian boy marching next to her into a side-arm hug. “He’s my brother. Beca, meet Donald. Donald, meet Beca.”

“Uh, hello,” said Beca.

“’Sup,” said Donald.

They situated themselves along a creek deep in the forest. As night fell, fireflies began coming out and dotting the air with small bursts of light. Other people on their team were taking positions, some getting ready to run, some defending.

Finally, somewhere far away, a conch horn blew.

For the better part of ten minutes, nothing happened in their area of the forest, and Beca spent the time watching Stacie check her reflection in the creek water. Donald was hacking away at a tree with his sword, looking bored out of his mind.

“Why are you so jittery?” Stacie asked suddenly.

“What?” Beca looked over at the girl, crouched at the edge of the creek, still staring at her own reflection and fixing her hair a little.

“You’re like shaking all over.”

“I just don’t want to die.” Beca tugged at a loose strap along her side that was a part of her flimsy chestplate. “We’re kind of, you know, stabbing each other with real weapons. No biggie, right?”

“Relax,” scoffed Stacie. “Some of the Apollo kids are really amazing with medicine. And nothing ever happens in this area of the creek, mostly. So the game is especially tame for border guards like you and me.”

Five more minutes passed, and Beca was actually starting to get a little bored.

“You know, I honestly thought there was going to be much more bloodshed,” Beca said. If she listened, she could hear screaming and yelling and the clanging of metal against metal in the distance.

The sudden rustle of leaves, however, was much closer. “How about we fix that now, then?” came a voice from across the creek.

“Nice timing,” Stacie called out lazily, but she had shot up into a standing position, her knife at the ready.

Several shapes emerged from the underbrush. At the head was Chloe, followed by a few of her cabinmates, all of them with bows primed and aimed at Stacie, Beca, and Donald. Standing next to them were a couple of Athena kids as well, both of them wielding bronze swords.

Beca tried to lift her shield and sword as Stacie and Donald pressed closer to her. “Hey, Chloe,” she said uneasily, backing up while their opponents crept closer to the edge of the creek. “Whatcha doing out here?”

“I think you know why we’re here, Beca,” said Chloe sweetly.

“Less talk, more fight,” Donald spoke up. He was hopping from side to side in anticipation, sword raised. His expression said,  _finally_.

An arrow whizzed past Beca’s head. She turned around just in time to see Donald sidestep and knock the arrow out of the way with his sword. Beca was impressed.

“Fast reflexes for a son of the love goddess,” commented an Athena kid.

Then they charged.

Stacie and Donald had a hell of a time trying to keep the two Athena kids occupied while Chloe and the other two children of Apollo went for Beca.

Her shield was dragging in the dirt. “Hey, don’t you think ganging up on me, a newbie, is a little bit unfair?” Beca said, accompanying her statement with a weak laugh.

“Hmm.” Chloe pretended to think about it for a while. “Maybe if you told us where your flag was, we’d let you off easy.”

In a sudden rush of confidence, Beca decided to say, “No.”

Chloe looked surprised. “What?”

“No,” repeated Beca. “If you want the flag, you have to go through me.”

Another arrow shot past her, so close she could feel it scraping a thin line against her cheek as it embedded itself in the tree behind her. A few drops of blood were welling from the fine cut. Beca felt one slide down her face.

Chloe’s eyes widened when she saw the blood, dropping her entire pretend-tough act. “Oh gods, Beca, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hit so close to your face. My aim is pretty bad. Are you okay?”

Beca rubbed at the wound with her shoulder. It stung a little, but she was fine, so she told Chloe this. Chloe seemed relieved but still a little guilty. “I mean, I’m all for shooting your, say, arms and legs full of arrows, but I don’t want to ruin that pretty face,” she told Beca, throwing in a wink for good measure.

“Quit being lovey-dovey with the enemy,” one of Chloe’s half-brothers snapped. He began firing arrows at Beca.

Beca knew there was no way she could land a hit while they were far away, pegging her shield with arrows. So she jumped into the creek and ran for them.

Five more arrows sank themselves into the shield before she made it to the Apollo kids, who had retreated a little bit by then. She lunged for the closest kid, the guy who had told Chloe off, and swung her sword. The kid blocked the attack with his bow. Beca dropped her shield and used both hands on her sword to shove down against the bow, snapping it clean in two.

Before the other two had time to react, Beca had grabbed ahold of the other kid’s bow. He held on fast with two hands, but Beca yanked the guy forward with a burst of energy, causing him to trip and fall forwards. The twine dug into his palms, and he let go. Beca took the liberated bow and threw it as far as she could into the creek. After getting momentarily stuck on a rock, the bow began flowing downstream out of reach.

Beca was just beginning to feel confident and unashamedly proud, having just disarmed two Apollo kids, when she heard someone behind her say, “Over here.”

Beca spun around to find Chloe a good five yards away, arrow nocked and aimed straight at Beca. She had no shield and there was nowhere nearby to dive for cover.

Chloe flashed her a grin, and let go of the string.

There was no time to react. So Beca did the stupid thing, allowing her reflexes to take over and dropping her sword so she could attempt to cover herself with her hands outstretched. Too late she began to think in the corner of her mind what an idiotic move that was. Surely she could have tried the move that Donald had employed earlier, where he knocked the arrow away with his sword. Surely a sword offered more protection than her _bare h_ _ands_.

Oh well. Time to embrace death, then. And at the hands of Chloe too. Beca squeezed her eyes shut.

It took her ten seconds to realize she never died, and then another ten to notice their area of the forest was dead silent. Stacie had been making a lot of noise earlier sparring with the two Athena campers, but now, all of that was gone.

Maybe in some freak incident of magic Beca had caught the arrow like a badass. But she opened her eyes to discover that no, she had not caught the arrow. Although that would’ve been cool.

She had one arm pressed close against her chest, while the other one was straightened out in front of her with her palm wide open and facing forward. A few inches in front of her open hand, Chloe’s arrow was frozen, hovering impossibly in midair.

Everyone was staring. Stacie and Donald were staring. Chloe was staring.

Beca was staring.

She looked up at Chloe, whose expression was one of utter shock and total surprise. Then Beca broke into a wide grin. Somehow, she knew what to do.

She clenched her fist and the arrow exploded.

The entire clearing was silent as everyone watched the blackened ash remains of the arrow flutter to the ground. Beca stared at her hands in wonder. What had she just done?

She decided to take full advantage of the situation, and said with maybe a bit too much smugness, “Well, want to go again, Chloe?”

Chloe had no response.

Her half-brothers bolted back the way they came from, screaming. After Beca fixed the two Athena kids with her most fierce glare, they scrambled away too. Now alone, Chloe had no choice but to follow them in their retreat.

Later, Beca would find out that Chloe’s gang had actually been one of the few main flag-scouting parties. By holding them up and preventing them from reaching the flag, Beca had given her own team enough time to find Athena’s banner and bring it back to their side. The red team exploded into cheers when the victory was announced, and amidst a wild parade of hugs and slaps on the back, everyone tumbled out of the woods towards the amphitheater for a late night campfire celebration.

A lot of people on her team were coming up to Beca and congratulating her on her amazing job. Apparently Stacie and Donald had spread the word about how Beca had single-handedly taken down three Apollo kids and stopped a freaking arrow in midair. Bumper even gave Beca a grudging fist bump. All the attention was making Beca embarrassed, but she couldn’t deny the fact that she enjoyed the praise.

Aubrey found her sitting by a campfire and sat down next to her. “Well done, Beca,” Aubrey said proudly. “I always knew you had it in you to do amazing things.”

“Well I couldn’t have done it without a kickass teacher,” Beca said sheepishly. “I actually tried to use the disarming trick you showed me on one of the Apollo kids. Only I was doing it against a bow, so it snapped in half instead. So I guess it was just luck.”

“Well, luck or not, you still got us a banner,” Aubrey said. “The flag is Hermes cabin’s now!”

Jesse tackled her in a bear hug when he found out.

“BECAW!” he yelled, loud enough for everyone in the vicinity to hear. Embarrassed, Beca tried to shy away from his embrace, but he held fast. “You turned the tide in your favor in your very first ever capture the flag game! What kind of beast are you?”

“Says the half-goat man,” Beca teased him.

“Hey.” Jesse pointed in Beca’s face, fixing her with a very fake serious expression. “Don’t be mean to your protector.”

“Ew. Gross.”

Jesse laughed and patted Beca on the back. “But seriously, good job. Want some strawberry soda?”

Chloe still seemed a bit shocked but equally as impressed. “What was that stunt you pulled out there?” she asked Beca with wide eyes. “I’ve never seen anyone do it!”

“Magic?” suggested Beca innocently.

Chloe laughed, then brought her hand up to the wound she’d inflicted on Beca’s cheek. She brushed her thumb over the thin cut, sending shivers up Beca’s spine at the touch. “Does it hurt?” Chloe asked gently.

“It’s fine, really,” Beca insisted. “You just grazed my face a little bit.”

“You sure? I can sing a little magic song to clear it up right now,” Chloe said.

“No, that’s okay!” Beca yelped, grabbing Chloe’s hand and setting it down away from her face because she couldn’t handle the tingling on her cheek that Chloe’s touch was causing. “It’s just a tiny cut, I’ve suffered worse.”

Chloe looked like she was going to say something, but at that moment, Stacie shoved two packs of marshmallows in their faces and they were instantly distracted.

Beca was so exhausted and drained of energy, but she stayed up with her friends to fool around the campfire, enjoying yet another night together. Chloe started singing a silly song about the gods, and Jesse joined her on his reed pipes. After that it was impossible for anyone to resist joining in.

The black sky was filled with many bright, twinkling stars. A cool breeze blew around camp, bringing a welcome relief to the warm temperatures of late May. The fire, which changed into more and more violent shades of red and purple the happier the campers got, crackled and sparked merrily, sending lazy wisps of smoke spiraling up into the air. And the campers were all belting out ridiculous song after ridiculous song at the top of their lungs, struggling not to burst out laughing and feasting on delicious roasted marshmallows.

Beca never felt more at home. She could sit there with Chloe and Aubrey and Jesse every day for the rest of her life, and she’d be extremely content.

 

…

 

It was near midnight and Beca was full to bursting with s’mores when she heard the hissing. By the time she had gotten everyone around her to shut up and listen, the hissing had grown louder, evolving into a low growling.

People began to panic silently. No one had weapons. They’d dumped all their gear from capture the flag back into the armory. And why was there a monster in camp? Monsters couldn’t get past the boundary, so the only way there could be one in the camp was if someone had summoned it.

When the monster burst from the trees behind the amphitheater, people screamed and ran. Aubrey grabbed Stacie and the two sprinted for the armory to grab weapons. Beca jumped behind Chloe in fright. Chloe, to her credit, didn’t back away from the monster, just held out her arms protectively to shield Beca.

What was up with these dogs chasing after her?

But after taking a good look at the monster, Beca wished that it was just another hellhound. At least the hellhounds were still one hundred percent dog.

This thing was part dog, part goat, part serpent, and worst of all, part lion.

“That’s a Chimera,” said Chloe in a small voice.

“So I’m guessing we should probably run,” responded Beca in an equally light voice.

“Good idea,” said Chloe.

Beca had just enough time to hear someone yell, “How the hell did someone get a _Chimera_ into the camp?” before the monster caught sight of her and charged.

She was weaponless and had nothing. Everyone else was running away. The Chimera swatted Chloe aside as if she were a rag doll, and before Beca could scream or do anything, the Chimera turned on her instead, crushing her underfoot with a gigantic goat hoof.

She felt something in her leg crack and searing pain swept through her body. The Chimera lifted its paw to see if it had successfully smashed its prey underfoot, and Beca took the opportunity to dive under one of the raised seats of the amphitheater. Perfect timing too. The Chimera let out a roar and a column of blazing fire shot out of its mouth, roasting the air where Beca had been a few seconds earlier. She could feel the intense heat burning against her face.

Great. The stupid thing could breathe fire too.

Now the question was, why was the Chimera ignoring everyone else? There were tons of screaming, fleeing kids for it to pick on. But the monster was only after Beca.

Suddenly its serpent tail found its way to Beca, wrapping tightly around her and lifting her into the air. It brought her close to its lion face, baring its fangs.

Please, someone come to the rescue, Beca thought desperately, squirming hopelessly against the Chimera’s grip.

“Beca!” came a weak yell. Beca craned her neck and found Chloe, struggling to stand up straight. There was a streak of blood running down the side of her head. “Beca, use your little trick! Do the thing you did with my arrow!”

“What?” Beca managed to say. But she knew what Chloe meant. So just as the Chimera began to open its jaws, Beca extracted her hands from the crushing serpent tail and shoved her arms forward with all her might.

The Chimera staggered, stumbling back to regain its footing while dropping Beca in the process. She landed on the floor, hard, and struggled to get up again. The Chimera let out a huge roar and got ready to charge again.

This time, Beca concentrated all of her remaining energy and slammed the air in front of her, hard, and the Chimera went flying backwards, crashing with a thud against the amphitheater wall. It roared and tried to move forward with its paws, but Beca was holding it firm in place. Somehow.

But she could feel her energy draining. Holding the Chimera in place seemingly with her mind was a tough enough job, and she knew she couldn’t keep at it for much longer. Then she’d be forced to let go, and the Chimera would tear her to shreds or burn her to a crisp – and then what?

“Beca, duck!”

It was Chiron. Beca listened without thinking about it. She just dropped to the ground. As soon as the eye contact was broken, the Chimera was freed and got ready to leap forward again. But before it could, a volley of arrows flew into the air and sank deep into the Chimera’s flesh. Smoke began pouring out of its wounds, and with a final howl, the massive monster slowly disintegrated into a pile of ash.

“I had to use all ten of my most powerful enchanted arrows on that,” said Chiron gravely. “That is not any generic monster to fight against.” He looked extremely alarmed and worried. “I do not know how someone could possibly have summoned such a powerful creature into the camp.”

Chloe rushed over to where Beca was on all fours, panting and gasping and trying to catch her breath through the haze of pain. “Oh my gods, Beca, are you alright?” Chloe asked, wrapping an arm around Beca and helping her stand up. “Oh, who am I kidding. You look awful!”

“What about you?” Beca said, huffing, looking up at Chloe. “That looks like a nasty gash you got there. You should get that cleaned up.”

Aside from the giant cut on the side of her head, Chloe also seemed to be a little unbalanced and unsteady on her feet. After all, she had gotten thrown into the air and landed with a rough crash against the stone seats of the amphitheater.  “Forget about me,” Chloe said dismissively. “We need to get you to the infirmary right n–”

Beca was about to ask why she’d suddenly stopped talking when she noticed that Chloe was staring at her. No, not at her, but at something above her head.

She looked around and saw all the kids who had scattered during the attack had begun to return, tentatively inspecting the carnage. They were all staring at her too. There was Jesse, arm wrapped around Benji in fright. There was Fat Amy, her mouth hanging open, standing in between Cynthia Rose and Bumper. There was Aubrey and Stacie side-by-side, their swords hanging uselessly by their sides. All of them were staring at Beca. Every single camper had their eyes fixed on her. Her heart rate skyrocketed. Did she do something wrong? Was the Chimera back to eat her again?

“It is determined,” said Chiron.

And then they all knelt.

“Chloe…Chloe, what’s going on?” Beca asked, bewildered.

“Your mom,” said Chloe, pointing at the spot above Beca’s head. She was kneeling too. Confused and more than just a little bit scared, Beca looked up.

There was a purple hologram of sorts hovering above her head, shimmering and spinning. It looked like a symbol of two torches crossed in an X-shape. After a few more seconds, it faded, and Beca looked from face to face of her kneeling friends and camp mates, searching desperately for an answer.

“What…what about my mom?”

She found her answer in Chiron.

“Hail Beca Mitchell,” he announced to the silent crowd. “Daughter of Hecate, controller of the Mist, goddess of magic.”


	4. Angry Person Sends Angry Dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> But really, thanks so much for the nice comments. It means a lot. (・∀・ )

Beca spent one and a half days recovering in the infirmary. Since Chloe was also out of commission with her, she was nursed back to health by some other random blond-haired son of Apollo.

She got out on Friday afternoon and automatically headed for the Hermes cabin. When she got to her bunk, she found the new kid John Smith resting in it instead.

“So you finally decided to take me up on my offer?” Beca commented lightly.

John blinked at her. “This is my bunk now.”

“What?”

“I thought you were claimed a few days ago,” said John.

Oh yeah. She had been. Memories of that fateful night flooded back into her mind.

Her mother was Hecate.

And…then what? She didn’t know anything else. Beca was suddenly swamped with an intense longing for her mother to visit her and answer her countless desperate questions.

She sighed and began to pack her things so she could give John some space.

Aubrey followed her to her new home, cabin number twenty. They both stood outside to inspect the small building. Each individual stone brick of the cabin was inscribed with strange runes that pulsated gently in the sunlight.

“How do you feel?” Aubrey asked.

“Scared,” Beca admitted. “I don’t know. There’s so much I don’t know. I wish my mom could come down here and pay me a visit or something.”

Aubrey patted Beca reassuringly, her expression sad and understanding. “I know it’s tough,” she said, “but we’ll pull each other through. Heroes always do. We’ll be here for you whenever you need us.”

“Thanks, Aubrey,” sighed Beca. They hugged, briefly, and then Beca opened the door to her new cabin and stepped in.

The interior walls were a dark grey with tiny little runes dotting them like stars in a night sky. Along the edges were lined torches that glowed faintly in the dim. It wasn’t spooky at all – it actually felt pretty peaceful and homely. Beca took her stuff to one of the four bunks in the cabin and dropped it there.

She learned that she had only two other living siblings. Lou Ellen was the official head counselor, but she was reaching her twenties and had left to study for a bit on Circe’s island, whatever the hell that meant. Apparently she would be returning halfway through the summer, so Beca would get to meet her eventually. And she had a brother, a guy named Greg who was doing something off in California. He would not be returning to camp before the year ended. So for the time being, Beca was utterly alone in her own cabin.

The silence was eerily unfamiliar, especially after Beca had gotten used to sharing her sleeping quarters with a bunch of rowdy troublemakers. But at least she wouldn’t be roused from sleep at night by the insane amount of snoring that had been present in cabin eleven.

She ate dinner alone at her own table that evening. When she burnt part of her meal for the gods, she finally knew who to offer it to. Not that it made her feel much better.

Of course Chloe snuck over and invaded her personal bubble halfway through the meal, despite the fact that the rest of the table was completely empty. But for once, Beca was grateful for the company, so she let Chloe squish her in a crushing hug.

“I missed you, Beca!” Chloe said earnestly. “I’m so glad you’re okay now!”

“Me too,” said Beca with her face pressed against Chloe’s chest. “But I won’t be for long if you suffocate me.”

“Sorry.” Chloe laughed and let go of Beca. “Daughter of Hecate, huh? How’s it feel?”

“Lonely,” said Beca. She took another bite of biscuit.

“I noticed,” commented Chloe. “That’s why I came to visit.”

Beca didn’t know how to respond to that. So she kept eating her dinner.

“So, got any other cool powers?” Chloe asked conversationally.

“Uh, what do you mean _other_ powers?”

“Like, besides your little telekinesis.”

“Wait, what?”

“Oh come on, don’t be silly,” said Chloe. “You stopped my arrow in midair and also pinned a giant monster in place without even touching it.”

“Oh. Oh yeah.” Beca felt a little stupid. She hadn’t put too much thought into whatever she was doing in those intense situations. Maybe all along she’d known her ability was called telekinesis, but there just hadn’t been enough time to put a name to it.

Beca stared at her fork and concentrated hard on lifting it. Slowly but surely, it began to hover in the air. Chloe watched her do it, mesmerized. “Wow,” she breathed.

Later at the campfire that night, Beca suddenly blurted out, “Is it a normal thing?”

“What’s a normal thing?” Chloe was sitting next to her, gazing into the fire.

“My telekinesis. If it’s a typical thing for Hecate kids to be able to do. And if Hecate is the goddess of magic, then what else am I capable of doing? What other powers do I have? Ugh, I wish one of my siblings were here right now, they could probably teach me everything I don’t know.”

Chloe was smiling. “Why would you want someone telling you what you were capable of? The excitement is getting to figure out what you can do for yourself.”

Beca rolled her eyes. “Yes. Fun. Totally.”

“I’ll come with you,” Chloe suggested. “I just have a late afternoon shift in the infirmary tomorrow. I’m free all morning. I can help you get a better grip on your abilities then.”

“Uh, sure,” said Beca. “That’d be nice, actually.”

Chloe grinned, and then they went back to staring at the fire again.

Sometime later Stacie came up to them, shoving a bucket of strawberries into Chloe’s arms, and the serious mood was instantly broken. “Hold this for me,” she said. “Benji just bet me five drachmas that I couldn’t nail a strawberry to Bumper’s neck fat and get it stuck in the crease. He’s going down.”

“Bumper, or Benji?” Beca asked, laughing.

Stacie squinted in Bumper’s direction, where he was sitting with a bunch of his Ares cabinmates as well as Fat Amy. “Both of them.”

“Are you drunk right now?” asked Chloe.

“No,” said Stacie.

“Aren’t you underage?”

“I’m seventeen!”

“That’s underage, Stacie!”

Jesse and Aubrey had arrived on the scene with Benji. “Oh no,” sighed Aubrey when she saw Stacie pull a strawberry from the bucket she’d made Chloe hold. “She got a sugar high off of all that strawberry soda again. Jesse, you have got to stop just handing it out to people who are clearly not benefitting from it!”

Jesse, however, was more concerned with the fact that Stacie had picked an entire bucket full of strawberries and was now chucking one after another in the direction of the Ares campers. “Hey, man! Don’t just waste our strawberries! They’re supposed to be _for sale_ , not for chucking!”

Stacie missed again and grabbed another strawberry. “Why can’t you just make Plant Boy grow more? I’ve got money to win.”

“I never expected her to take me up on that bet,” said Benji. He was looking at Stacie with a horrified expression.

The next strawberry skewed to the left a little and hit Fat Amy instead, with so much force that it splattered on her shoulder. She let loose a string of curses, and both she and Bumper turned around just in time to meet Stacie’s next fruit projectile straight to the face.

Everyone yelled “ohhh!” as Bumper wiped the strawberry off his left eye, glaring at Stacie, who was standing there innocently.

“I got his face,” Stacie told Benji. “Is that close enough?”

“Sorry, Conrad, but I believe the deal was the back of his neck,” Benji retorted.

All eyes were on Bumper, watching him in anticipation to see how he’d react.

He picked up one of the fallen strawberries and chucked it right back at Stacie, where it hit her in the boob.

The campers rioted. Suddenly Chloe was no longer holding a bucket and people were being pelted by strawberries left and right and everyone was screaming.

Did they seriously start a food fight? Yes they did.

These campers were nuts.

 

…

 

Beca did not sleep well that night.

She’d gone to bed right after cleaning the strawberry mess off her clothes and switched into her pajamas. She knew she fell asleep basically as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Then she was pulled into a nightmare.

Oh man, it had been a while since she’d had a nasty dream.

There wasn’t actually anything tangible in it, but Beca could feel herself falling, being tossed around in darkness. Someone was really, really furious. Livid.

It told Beca things like, “ _YOU CAN’T HIDE FROM ME_ ,” and “ _BE PREPARED TO FACE MY WRATH_.”

It also did not help that the power in the person’s voice made her entire being turn to a scared, weak little pile of pudding. She tried to tell them that she had no idea what they were talking about, and begged for them to elaborate, but a wave of energy hit her and the dream shattered.

She woke up faceplanted to the other side of her bunk with her pillow on the ground.

It was still early morning, but Beca was definitely not in the mood to stay anywhere near a bed for the next three thousand years, so she stumbled through her morning preparations and hauled herself outside.

Her feet ended up taking her to the arena, which was kind of stupid since she didn’t bring a sword or anything. She took a stuffed dummy from the pile lined up against the wall and set it up in the middle of the field.

Might as well figure out how to work her telekinesis.

She concentrated on trying to lift the straw-filled sack. But it weighed like fifty pounds, and Beca could feel the strain on her mind as she struggled to heft the thing in the air. Frustrated, she pushed the dummy forward with all her energy. It went skidding across the arena’s floor.

Beca blinked.

Pulling it back towards her was a bit harder, but she managed to do it, bringing it within two feet of her outstretched hand. It seemed like pushing things around wasn’t too big of a deal. It was just lifting heavy objects straight up into the air that proved difficult.

She spent a bit of time getting used to throwing the dummy around, and gradually it started to become easier and easier. After a while she wondered if she could control more than one object at once.

Eventually she set up another dummy and practiced using both hands to shove them in opposite directions. Then she brought them together and caused them to collide with a huge crash.

“You’ve gotten a lot better at this,” someone behind her said.

Beca spun around. Chloe was sitting on the wall that blocked the raised seats from the actual arena, gazing down at her with admiration.

“Oh, hey,” Beca said distractedly. She turned back to her twin dummy heap. One of the dummies’ head had come loose, spilling straw onto the ground.

Chloe hopped down nimbly from the wall and walked over to join Beca. “You alright? You kind of missed breakfast.”

“I did? What time is it?”

“Ten-thirty. How long have you been down here by yourself?” Chloe looked at Beca’s exhausted expression, worried.

“Since I woke up. I, uh, needed to distract myself,” said Beca.

Chloe frowned. “Distract yourself from what? What happened?”

“It was just a nightmare,” Beca said uncomfortably. She was a bit embarrassed to have to admit that she was scared by a silly dream. “I know it’s stupid. I shouldn’t be so affected by it, but I am.”

“Beca, that’s a completely normal occurrence,” said Chloe. “It’s a part of being a demigod. Usually our dreams have some special meaning to them. Is it too much to ask what it’s about?”

Great. Her dream about some angry dude being seriously pissed at her had some special meaning to it. Beca let out a terrified laugh against her will. Chloe looked alarmed.

“Oh, it was nothing, just a really scary and powerful voice telling me that I couldn’t run from him and that I should brace myself to face his wrath. You know, the usual.”

Chloe was staring at her with wide eyes. “That…that doesn’t sound very pleasant.”

“No, it doesn’t,” agreed Beca. “Especially because I have no clue what I did wrong.”

“I guess we shouldn’t worry about it too much for now,” Chloe said slowly. “It might just be a one-time scare. You stay here, I’m going to get you some breakfast.”

Beca wanted to protest that no, she wasn’t that hungry and that Chloe didn’t need to go out of her way to get her food, but Chloe was already racing out of the arena. Sighing, Beca scrambled up the staircase to the stands and sat down in the front row. A break was welcome, since she’d been training nonstop since dawn and she was exhausted.

Not to mention she was _still_ a little shell-shocked from her dream. She remembered Fat Amy’s nightmare from a few days ago and couldn’t help feeling like the two dreams were connected. Hadn’t Fat Amy said the person in her dream was saying things like “how dare they trick me”? What if the person meant Beca was the one doing the tricking?

And there was the matter of the Chimera storming into camp and going straight for Beca. She must have done something really horrible to get chased after so relentlessly.

But what was it?

Beca shook her head. It was a nice day out and she didn’t want to waste it thinking about this kind of stuff.

Chloe returned in a few minutes with a plate filled with eggs, bacon, and toast. She stabbed some eggs onto the fork she’d brought and held it expectantly up to Beca’s mouth.

“Are you trying to feed me?” Beca asked incredulously.

“Yes. Your hands are all dirty from handling the practice dummies. Now shut up and eat it.”

Beca shut up and ate it.

After Beca let Chloe feed her the food, they ended up sharing the slice of toast, and then Chloe set the empty plate aside.

“Now that you’re fed and watered, are you still up for some more training?” Chloe asked.

“Yeah, sure.”

Chloe went into the toolshed next to the arena and brought out a crate of apple-sized bouncy balls. She threw them at Beca, who attempted to stop the balls in midair before they smacked her in the face.

They learned that Beca could stop balls thrown from in front of her, even without using hand motions if she concentrated hard enough. But as soon as Chloe tried tossing them at Beca’s back, they started hitting her.

“Ow! You throw so hard,” groaned Beca as the fifth ball hit her square in between her shoulder blades.

“Sorry!” said Chloe. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” Beca rubbed her back. “Although it looks like I can’t control things from behind me.”

“Maybe you have to be making eye contact with the object,” suggested Chloe.

They also eventually discovered that Beca could only move whole things at once. She tried to tear off the head of a dummy with her mind, but it was either move the entire dummy or not move it at all.

The sun was high in the sky when Beca finally flopped onto the ground, drained of all energy. “I’m dead,” she announced to Chloe. “I just tried using my powers for like six hours straight. Chloe, help.”

“Okay, one sec, lazy butt,” Chloe said, kicking the final dummy back onto its place on the pile. She made her way to where Beca was lying on the arena floor and crouched down. “Oh, c’mere, you.”

She lifted Beca up in her arms and carried her out of the arena, wearing an amused expression the entire time. Beca wouldn’t know that, though, because she was too busy secretly enjoying being carried by Chloe to notice anything else.

 

…

 

That night the same dream came back again. Beca recognized the sinking, creeping feeling instantly and tried to wake herself up, but of course it didn’t work.

“ _MY PATIENCE WEARS THIN,_ ” said the same voice with the same amount of power and inducing the same level of fear in Beca. “ _I ADVISE YOU TO CORRECT YOUR MISTAKES AS SOON AS POSSIBLE._ ”

She couldn’t even open her mouth to respond that time.

She woke up on the floor of her cabin and spent the rest of the day within two feet of Chloe at all times. Chloe, thankfully, did not seem to mind.

The day after that, on Sunday night, Beca had the nightmare for a third time. The voice said, “ _I WARNED YOU, AND YOU IGNORED ME. NOW YOU WILL PAY,_ ” and then Beca felt actual pain shoot through her chest. She woke with a start, horrified to find that her chest was still aching.

It was well past midnight and still very dark outside. But Beca wouldn’t be able to sleep another wink even if she’d been pumped full of sleeping pills. And since she wasn’t exactly thinking clearly at that point, she acted on her instincts and went outside.

She knew the patrol harpies would shred her if they found her outside of her cabin after curfew, but she didn’t care about any of that right now, and they weren’t even near the cabins at the time. She automatically headed for cabin number seven, reaching its doorstep in no time.

Even at three in the morning the Apollo cabin still glowed faintly, letting off a little gold shimmer into the night. She opened the door without hesitation and stepped in.

No one stirred. Boy, there were a lot of bunks. And a lot of people. Chloe had so many siblings.

But it wasn’t hard at all to find her, even in the dark. Most of the Apollo kids had blonde hair and Chloe was the only one with red. Beca reached Chloe’s bunk and sat down on it, poking her sleeping form tentatively.

Chloe twitched. Beca poked her again, more urgently this time.

“Whazzat?”

“It’s me,” said Beca.

“Beca?” Chloe whispered sleepily. “What are you doing in here? It’s like…it’s like midnight…”

“I, uh, I had the nightmare again. Except I got actual like physical pain from it. So I’ve kind of been jolted awake for all eternity.”

Chloe was suddenly sitting upright and alert. She put her hand on Beca’s arm. “Oh no,” she said softly. “Do you…do you want to stay with me tonight, then?”

“Yes,” said Beca immediately, “but not like, to sleep. The last thing I want to do right now is sleep. I hope you’re okay with that. Sorry for bothering you.”

“Don’t you ever apologize for wanting someone to be there for you,” Chloe insisted. Around them, Chloe’s siblings were tossing and turning. “Let’s go outside, then.”

So they went outside in their pajamas, Beca holding onto Chloe’s wrist tightly as they walked. Beca figured she must have been causing Chloe pain with her death grip, but she didn’t seem to mind.

They passed by a pair of patrol harpies who looked like they were going to pick a fight with them, but Chloe shook her head sadly, and the harpies seemed to understand.

Chloe ended up leading Beca to the edge of the lake, and they sat down on the banks, gazing out onto the water. The moon and stars were extraordinarily bright, casting their faint light onto the unmoving lake. It was hard for Beca to wrap her head around the idea that everything could still be so peaceful and beautiful when she’d been thrashing in her sleep just twenty minutes earlier.

“What happened this time?” Chloe asked quietly.

“He said that he warned me, and because I ‘ignored’ him, I would pay,” Beca said. Her throat felt dry as she tried not to think about the nightmare. “And then I felt my chest hurting a lot. I woke up right after that and it was still hurting. So I freaked and went straight to you.”

Chloe didn’t speak for a long time. “Well, obviously something’s wrong. We can go talk to Chiron about it tomorrow morning.”

“Okay,” said Beca hoarsely.

One hour later and Beca could tell Chloe was fighting hard to stifle all her yawns.

“Go to sleep,” said Beca.

“No, no, I’m fine,” Chloe said. “I’m staying up for you.”

“You look like you’re about to drop dead,” Beca told her. “Get some rest. As long as your presence is here…I think I’ll be okay.”

After a bit more pushing, Chloe finally relented, and she used her jacket as a pillow and lay down on the ground to sleep. Beca watched her breathing eventually even out. She took off her own jacket and draped it over Chloe, then went back to staring at the black expanse of lake.

 “Please,” she said to nothing in particular. “I don’t know what I did wrong. At least tell me why you’re so angry.”

 

…

 

“What’s the matter with you two?” Aubrey asked Chloe and Beca when they showed up to breakfast late the next day. “You guys look awful.”

“It’s complicated,” Chloe mumbled. “We’re going to get it sorted out today, don’t worry.”

Beca and Chloe headed towards the Big House together after shoveling a bit of food into their mouths. They found Chiron resting on the porch, staring off into the distance.

“Chiron!” Chloe called. The centaur’s head turned in their direction, surprised. “Chiron, are you free at the moment?”

“Yes, I am,” he said. “Chloe, Beca. What brings you two here?”

“Um.” Beca knew Chloe was waiting for her to explain, but she was feeling a bit too queasy to speak. Chloe seemed to understand and told Chiron everything about Beca’s recent dreams.

Chiron’s expression morphed from curious to uneasy to stormy. “This…is not good,” he said when Chloe was finished. “It confirms my fears that…a certain god is very mad at you, Beca.”

“Me? But why?” Beca said desperately. “I don’t even know what I did wrong!”

“I do not know very many details,” Chiron said. “But there is obviously a connection between your dreams and that Chimera attack on Wednesday night. Someone is trying hard to punish you.”

“For what?” Beca asked.

Chiron shifted on his hooves uneasily, like he was holding something back. “I don’t know,” he said. “I must look into this matter more deeply. But do not worry, Beca. I will not rest until I see you safe. You have an impressive amount of potential, and I believe you will make a wonderful hero.”

The praise was nice, but it didn’t really help to lighten Beca’s mood.

“You will get the answers you desire soon,” said Chiron.

“Why can’t you tell me now?” Beca asked.

“Fate is a very strange thing. It would be unwise for me to try and tamper with it. Please, just wait a little bit longer and let your life take its course,” said Chiron sadly. He shook his head and went into the Big House.

“Come on,” said Chloe gently, taking Beca by the arm. “Let’s take a day off today. You need a break.”

Halfway through the day, when Beca’s mood was not improving, Chloe even sang a little song for her. Her beautiful voice filled Beca with warmth and comfort. It made her feel like everything was going to be okay, even if the world was going to hell the next day, as long as Chloe was there.

Unfortunately, the world went to hell during dinner.

A leathery winged woman came flying out of the sky, and while Beca didn’t understand who she was, several people started screaming. The creature ignored them and stalked straight to Beca’s table.

Of course she did. Why was Beca even expecting anything else at this point?

“Are you here to give me answers?” Beca asked miserably. “Can you at least tell me why I’m wanted dead so badly?”

“You know why my Lord hates you so,” the winged lady snarled. “He has sent me here to give you one final chance to set your wrongdoings right.”

“Who’s your lord?”

The creature hissed. “Hades, of course, you little thief. I am Alecto, one of the Lord of the Dead’s three Furies. Who else do I serve?”

Most of what this Alecto person said flew over Beca’s head, but she caught one word. “Wait. Did you just call me a thief?”

“Quit playing dumb! I do not have time for your trickery!”

“You think I stole something from Hades,” said Beca.

“I _know_ you stole something from Hades. Own up to it!”

“Okay, just one second.” Beca didn’t mean to sound so rude, but she was tired and cranky and frankly sick of everyone accusing her and then dancing around the point like this. “First of all, I literally have no idea what you’re talking about right now. Second of all, even if someone did steal something from Hades, why the hell am I the prime suspect? I just got to camp two weeks ago. I didn’t even know I was a demigod back then.”

“Exactly,” hissed Alecto. “You are sixteen, extremely old for a demigod to be able to stay under monsters’ radars alone outside of camp. How did you do it? Where have you been all these years? I know. Lord Hades knows. You’ve been shrouded in Mist this entire time, protected and hidden from most of us. And only a child of Hecate as powerful as you would be able to manipulate the Mist so forcefully as to successfully trick even the Lord of the Dead.”

Beca was well aware of the fact that Alecto’s talons could probably easily tear her into demigod jerky, but she was desperate for answers, and this servant of Hades was giving her tons.

“I don’t even know what you think I stole,” said Beca.

Alecto looked like she wanted to dice Beca right then and there, but she finally spat out, “Cerberus.”

“Cerberus,” Beca repeated. Alecto nodded impatiently.

Then Beca started laughing. Hysterically. She couldn’t help herself. “You think I stole Cerberus,” she wheezed. “You think me, a scrawny little newbie demigod who barely knows how to fight monsters, thought it would be a good idea to steal _Cerberus_ , a giant three-headed guard dog who lives in the _Underworld_.”

“Enough!” Alecto flew at Beca and knocked her out of her seat, pinning her to the ground with her talons. “You dare try to disgrace my Lord’s beloved pet! He treasures it deeply, and you had the nerve to try and take it for your own!”

“Get off of me, lady,” Beca said angrily. Energy flowed through her, red hot and furious. She slammed into Alecto with her telekinesis and the force sent her shooting backwards and slamming into one of the pavilion columns. The other campers who had remained behind to watch their exchange, frozen, now scattered aside wildly. Beca stood up and dusted herself off before stepping closer to the Fury.

Alecto shrieked and tried to pry herself off of the column, but Beca held her in place with her mind. “I didn’t steal your goddamn dog,” she said in a low voice. “I was just beginning to settle into my new life, I felt finally at home and comfortable with who I was, and you thought it would be cool to just pop in my dreams and ruin my life and accuse me of something I didn’t do without even bothering to check first.” She wished she had a weapon with her right now. She wanted to run Alecto through with some good old Celestial bronze so badly. She was angry, and frustrated, and overall so annoyed at how _ignorant_ the gods could be.

“Beca.”

She felt a hand on her shoulder and resisted the urge to turn around and shove whoever was touching her a thousand feet away. But she knew who it was.

“Beca, stop,” begged Chloe. “Let her go. You’re being really scary right now.”

Beca took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. The red in her vision faded away. She unclenched her fists and Alecto the Fury fell to the ground, gasping for breath.

“Lord Hades gives you three weeks,” Alecto panted. “Twenty-one days to return Cerberus to him. Should you fail, he will personally make sure you and your mother suffer in the deepest pits of the Underworld.”

Beca was about to step forward and yell “don’t you _dare_ bring my mom into this” when Chloe pulled her back. Alecto shot Beca one last murderous glare before disappearing in a dark puff of smoke.

The dining pavilion was silent and half empty.

Beca’s mind was swimming. So that’s who it had been in her dreams. Hades was mad at her because he thought she had stolen his precious guard dog. Which was absolutely ridiculous. Where would she even keep such a massive beast captive? And they blamed her, simply because her mother was Hecate?

And now she had three weeks to find Cerberus at who knows where and bring it back down to the Underworld.

Great. Just peachy.

_And_ she was completely exhausted from three nights of bad sleep and torture and her little rage storm on Alecto earlier when she had been on the verge of losing control, if it hadn’t been for…

“Thanks for holding me back,” Beca croaked.

The next thing she knew, she was falling, and Chloe was catching her, and then everything went black.


	5. What's a Real World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh no............... what's this.................. it's basically turned into a road trip AU except with magical powers and lots of monsters............... the horror
> 
>  
> 
> And now, the weather!

Beca was surprised when she woke up in her own bunk in the Hecate cabin the next morning instead of the infirmary. She stretched a little bit, blinking when her hand knocked into something on her nightstand.

She blindly reached behind her and grabbed whatever the small object was. It was a single square of ambrosia, which Beca had learned was the magical healing food of the gods, packed inside a baggie. A note was attached the baggie in Chloe’s handwriting. It took her a while to read, but she eventually managed to make out the words on the slip of paper: _Hey Beca! Hope you’re doing okay. Eat this if you feel any headaches or pain. A couple of my brothers challenged me and my sisters to a volleyball match today, so find me down at the pit if you’re feeling good enough to get up! Love, Chloe_

Beca was still feeling a little groggy and unhappy, but she couldn’t resist the idea of watching Chloe play volleyball with her siblings, so she popped the ambrosia in her mouth, threw on some clothes, and headed outside.

There were six boys and five girls in the volleyball pit, running and shouting and kicking up sand as they dived for the ball. The oldest looked like he was well into college, and the youngest was a tiny girl who looked no older than ten.

Beca sat down on a bench around the edge of the pit and watched as the Apollo kids served the ball back and forth. She’d caught sight of Chloe immediately, wearing a T-shirt, shorts, and no shoes. If Beca had been paying more attention, she would have realized she was staring at Chloe much more often than anyone else during the entirety of the match. All she could think about was how strong Chloe’s arms were, how powerful her spikes were.

Chloe slammed the ball over the net and it hit the sand, and the girls exploded into cheers. They all mobbed her, and she laughed and hugged her sisters happily. The brothers were a bit disappointed to have lost, but they were still looking over at the girls with carefree, relaxed expressions.

As the rest of the Apollo kids dispersed and left to move on to new activities for the day, Chloe rubbed the sand off her feet and slipped on her flip flops to walk over to where Beca was sitting. “Hey,” she said, plopping down in the seat right next to her.

“Hello,” said Beca.

“How are you feeling?”

“Still a bit pissed about last night,” said Beca, “but I ate the ambrosia you left me, so I’m in a good mood right now.” She was also in a good mood because she just got to watch Chloe slay her brothers at volleyball for twenty minutes, but Beca wasn’t about to admit that anytime soon.

“That’s good,” said Chloe. “I hate to ruin your good mood, but we should probably do something about what happened last night. I think you may need to take on a quest.”

“Okay,” said Beca. “But you’re going to have to tell me what to do.”

“First we go to Chiron and ask him for advice.”

They found Chiron around the Big House, and he didn’t even need to ask them why they were there.

“What do I do?” Beca asked him bluntly.

Chiron shook his head. “My child, you must leave Camp Half-Blood and find Cerberus in twenty-one days. While you could stay at camp for a little while longer before leaving, I advise against that. Even I do not know where Cerberus is being held captive. You will need all the time you can get to search for him.”

“So, I have to go on a quest,” said Beca.

“Indeed,” agreed Chiron.

Beca thought for a while. There were a lot of things she wanted to ask the centaur. Then she said, “So Hades was being serious. He really thinks I stole his stupid dog. Is that even possible? How do you take a thirty foot tall three-headed dog and get away with it?”

“It has been done before,” Chiron said. “One of my students, the famous Hercules, had to do it as one of his twelve labors. He was sent to the Underworld to take Cerberus and bring it back to King Eurystheus.”

“So how’d he do it?”

“He asked permission from Hades,” said Chiron. “He showed Hades a lot of respect and understood if he wasn’t allowed to take Cerberus with him. Hades was impressed by his humility and let him take Cerberus as long as Hercules didn’t permanently injure the dog and brought him back as soon as the labor was completed.”

“Well, obviously whoever stole it this time didn’t ask for permission, right?” said Beca. “Otherwise Hades wouldn’t be so angry.”

“On the contrary, I think that the person did,” said Chiron. “Think about it. Why is Hades so furious? It is not just because his dog was stolen. Remember Amy’s dream? ‘How dare they trick me.’ Someone asked for permission, and Hades said yes, but now I believe he has come to realize that Cerberus will not be returned anytime soon.”

“Okay, that makes it even stupider, then,” said Beca. “If the person physically went up to Hades and asked him, how does he not realize that I was not that person?”

Chiron sighed. “There are many ways to conceal things in this world, Beca,” he said. “Whoever took Cerberus was able to hide their identity in the face of the god. The Mist is one method of concealment. And here you are, a daughter of Hecate with an extraordinarily powerful aura, who has somehow stayed under the radar of monsters for sixteen years. Hecate is the goddess of the Mist. Hades believes he is perfectly reasonable in suspecting you of taking Cerberus.”

“Wow,” said Beca. It still wasn’t fair to her, but she was starting to see why Hades believed she had stolen his dog. “Okay. And now I’m the one who has to find it. It could be anywhere in the world, like in Africa, or even Antarctica…”

“You forget the kind of person who would be able to take the dog,” Chiron told her. “Gods would not be able to do it. Firstly, they are too powerful to hide themselves around each other. Secondly, they are not allowed to trespass onto other gods’ territories without express permission. So it must have been a demigod. And Camp Half-Blood is the only place in the United States for demigods to train in safety. It is not unreasonable to assume Cerberus is still somewhere in America.”

Chloe, who had been silent during this whole exchange, now spoke up. “Chiron…do you think it’s possible the thief is someone here right now at camp? Everyone knows monsters can only get into the camp if someone from the inside summoned them. So maybe the thief summoned a dangerous beast like the Chimera to attack Beca, maybe make her not feel safe at camp. But then as soon as she leaves, she’d be torn down by Hades.”

Chiron looked down at her, impressed. “Those are my exact suspicions,” he admitted. “But now, Hades has made it clear that he will not strike Beca until after the three weeks are up. Beca, you must take on a quest. Find where Cerberus is and bring him back to Hades.”

Beca sighed in defeat. “Okay, whatever. I’ll do it. I’ll go on a wild goose chase and hopefully not end up getting tortured eternally in hell.”

“I can tell you that the entrance to the Underworld is located in Los Angeles,” Chiron said. “So head there after you find Cerberus. You can bring a companion with you on this quest, if you want.”

Beca automatically looked to Chloe, then suddenly felt guilty. There was no way she could condemn Chloe to certain doom like that. She would never forgive herself if Chloe was seriously injured, or worse, died.

But then Chloe put a reassuring hand on Beca’s shoulder. “It’s okay,” she said. “I’d love to go on this quest with you, if you would take me.”

“I can’t let you come with me and risk the chance of dying,” said Beca.

“What about me?” Chloe asked, taking Beca by surprise. “How do you think I’d feel if you ran off on your quest and died and never came back? Let me go with you. We can keep each other alive.”

Beca knew she couldn’t say no. She desperately wanted Chloe to come with her.

“Okay,” she said.

“Excellent,” said Chiron. “Get some rest today, you two look seriously sleep-deprived. And you should leave first thing tomorrow morning. Oh, and Beca? Don’t forget to go visit the Oracle for a prophecy to guide you. She resides in the cave down the hillside.”

Word spread around camp pretty quickly that Beca and Chloe were leaving soon on a quest. Throughout the rest of the day Beca was actually being bombarded with requests to come along with them. Beca was beginning to grow weary of them, since most came from super buff, agitated demigods she didn’t even know personally. They kept telling her that trios were the best for quests and that she and Chloe would need the experience they had.

Even if Beca had wanted a third person on the quest, she wouldn’t know who else to ask. She couldn’t bring herself to force any of her friends to come along if they didn’t want to.

She considered asking Aubrey, since she was a senior camper and a terrifyingly good swordfighter. But she was also one of the older head counselors and always had her hands full dealing with the campers and issues that came up. When she told Aubrey this, she seemed to understand. “It’s totally fine with me, Beca,” she said. “I’m not like jumping up and down to beg you to take me on the quest, but whether you want me along or not, is ultimately up to you.”

And also because Aubrey seemed to be spending an awful lot of time hanging out with a certain child of Aphrodite.

Beca grinned and walked away.

Later in the afternoon, Beca was watching a couple of Nike kids racing each other on canoes across the lake when Jesse plopped down right next to her. “Hello,” he said. “Been a while since I’ve seen you, and you’ve gone and made yourself famous, huh?”

“Uh, sure,” said Beca, catching the juice pouch Jesse tossed her. “Where did you get this?”

“I may or may not have asked a Hermes kid to raid the camp store for me,” Jesse replied, grinning. Beca rolled her eyes.

Jesse let her drink her juice pouch in silence for a little while. Then he said, “A quest, huh?”

“Yeah. Ready to find the biggest three-headed dog ever. Did I ever mention, I’m getting sick of Underworld dogs?”

“Typically people would be thrilled to be loved by dogs,” Jesse joked.

“Typically dogs don’t have fangs or three heads,” said Beca.

They watched as one girl grabbed another girl’s canoe as she rowed past and tackled her. Both girls, after a mad scuffle, went down with a splash.

“Okay, so I know you’ve got your cool magical powers and all, but have you found a weapon you like yet?” Jesse asked.

“Not really? I’m okay with swords, I guess, but a lot of the ones in the armory are too heavy to feel balanced,” Beca replied. “Why?”

“I figured it wouldn’t hurt for you to take a weapon with you out into the real world, you know,” Jesse said. He was rummaging in his pockets for something. He pulled out a marker-sized cylinder and handed it to Beca.

“Um, thank you,” said Beca, glancing down at the cylinder in her hands. It was plain silver, about four inches long, and had absolutely nothing on it except for a button at one end.

“Press the button, you idiot,” Jesse said.

Beca pressed the button and the cylinder widened into a sword hilt, and a two foot long Celestial bronze blade extended from it. “It’s the sword I had stashed in my motorcycle,” Jesse explained. “I’m off demigod-scouting duty for the rest of the year, so I don’t need it, and I figured you made pretty good work of those hellhounds with it. So it’s yours now. I got Cynthia Rose to modify and enchant it to retract into that little cylinder, so it’s easier to carry around.”

“Dude.” Beca tackled Jesse in a hug, careful not to impale him with the sword. “This is awesome. Seriously, thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” said Jesse sheepishly. “The button should still be on the underside of the grip, so just hit it again and it’ll retract back into a cylinder.”

“Thanks a million,” Beca said again. “I’m gonna go now. I should probably start packing.”

They hugged. “Come back alive, midget,” Jesse said.

“I’ll do my best.” Beca got up and headed back towards the cabins.

There wasn’t a ton of stuff she needed to bring with her on the trip, so Beca just shoved two extra changes of clothes in her backpack along with her toothbrush and the sword Jesse had given her, retracted safely inside its cylinder form. She went to the camp store to see if anything they sold there was worth buying, and they ended up loaning her a hundred dollars and twenty golden drachmas, just in case she needed them in the outside world.

Chloe barged into the Hecate cabin just as Beca propped her ready-to-go backpack up against the nightstand and prepared to leave. “Oh, hello,” she said.

“Done packing? I’ve brought a bit of nectar and ambrosia in case of emergencies,” said Chloe. “And I have my bow and arrows. There’s twenty in my quiver, I hope that’s enough to last at least until I can get more. Have you gone to visit the Oracle yet?”

“Uh, no, not yet.” Beca had been putting off the trip to the cave. The Oracle, a girl named Rachel Elizabeth Dare, was a pretty nice girl from what the campers said about her, but the idea of getting a prophecy that would outline her fate made her feel queasy.

“You should go now, then. Dinner’s coming up soon, and we leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow.”

Beca looked at her in amusement. “You seem really nervous about this.”

“Sorry,” said Chloe, turning pink. “I’ve never been on a quest before. I’m just scared I’ll mess up and get us both killed.”

“You’ve never been on a quest before? But you’ve been here like seven years!”

“Quests don’t come around often,” Chloe said. “I mean, I’ve fought monsters and in battles before, but I’ve never had to travel outside on my own before. On our own.”

Beca gazed at her. “It’s okay,” she said, smiling. “I have no clue what I’m doing either. But I have a feeling, we’ll get through just fine.”

Chloe smiled too. “Okay, Beca. Now go get your prophecy from the Oracle.”

“Okay, okay. Yeesh.”

Beca went out across camp and found the cave halfway down the hill easily enough. The entrance of it was shrouded with thick curtains and two torches on either side of the cave opening burned bright green.

She tentatively pushed the curtain open and went inside.

“Hello,” said the girl waiting for her in the interior.

She had her back to Beca, sitting close against the far wall with something in her hands. A paintbrush. The smooth cave stone was covered in beautiful paintings that Beca spent a few seconds just staring at in awe.

The girl turned around to regard Beca with her bright green eyes. She had red hair just like Chloe did, Beca noticed.

“Um, hi,” said Beca. “Are you…Rachel Dare?”

“The Oracle of Delphi at your service,” Rachel confirmed. “Beca Mitchell, right? I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Beca blinked. “Um, cool, I guess.”

“You’re here for a prophecy, right?”

“Yeah. For my quest.”

“Okay.” Rachel walked closer until she was face to face with Beca, and took a deep breath. “Just give me a short while. Um, I’m going to start spewing words uncontrollably when I give you the prophecy. Please don’t freak out.”

Beca was already freaking out. An eerie green mist was wrapping itself around Rachel, who closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they were green. And then she started talking in a voice that was most definitely not hers.

“ _Go south, then west, to return the forcibly held,_

_You shall discover the thief and see them expelled._

_Confront a friend who no longer sees you as such,_

_And return to camp safely after you have done much._ ”

Then Rachel closed her eyes again, the creepy green mist faded, and she stumbled. Beca automatically reached forward to catch her and help her onto the stool that was situated in the center of the cave.

“Thanks,” said Rachel after regaining her composure. “Did I do okay? Got your prophecy?”

“Crystal clear,” replied Beca. Even more than crystal clear. She was glad that the prophecy seemed to ensure that she’d be able to find Cerberus and return him to Hades as well as bring the real thief to justice, but the third line made her uncomfortable.

_Confront a friend who no longer sees you as such_.

What did that mean? Did one of her friends not see her as their friend anymore? Did one of her friends hate her? Beca’s stomach twisted. Which one of them was it? And she had to confront them. Did that mean she had to fight them?

She shook her head. She had a quest to embark on in twelve hours and she would complete it first before worrying about the rest of the prophecy.

“Thanks, Rachel,” said Beca.

“No problem! Just doing my job,” said Rachel, turning back to the wall, paintbrush in her hand. The last glimpse Beca caught of Rachel was of her regarding a section of blank wall thoughtfully, like she was imaging what she’d be drawing on it next.

Chloe was still waiting back in Beca’s cabin. She watched Beca expectantly as she entered.

“Good news,” Beca said. “We’re going to succeed.”

“Yay!” said Chloe. “What was the specific prophecy, though?”

“Um.” Beca wracked her brains. “Uh, we’re supposed to go south, then west, to return the forcibly held. And then discover the thief and see them expelled. And then we come home safely. Yeah. That’s it.”

“That’s good,” said Chloe. “Alright, I’m going to head back to my cabin, they’re going to call dinner anytime now. See you!”

As Chloe left, Beca couldn’t help feeling a twinge of guilt at withholding one of the lines. But she couldn’t let Chloe know about it. What if she ended up being the friend that Beca had to confront?

Beca shook her head to clear her thoughts.

That night at the campfire the rest of the campers gave Chloe and Beca an official farewell. It was nice to bask the support that all the demigods gave them, but it felt a little bit too permanent, like they weren’t expecting them to come back alive.

“Good night,” Chloe said to Beca when it was time for bed. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

“Okay,” said Beca.

At least she slept well that night. No rage dreams from Hades.

 

…

 

The two girls watched the sun rise from the top of Half-Blood Hill.

“Ready to leave?” Chiron asked them. “Argus can drive you into the city to the closest bus stop, but after that, you’re on your own.”

Argus was a cool looking surfer dude with bright blue eyes all over his body, though most of them were covered up by his jacket and jeans.

“Wait!” someone called.

Beca turned around to find Benji running up the hill towards them.

“I just wanted to tell you something,” Benji gasped as soon as he could speak. “Before you left. It might help.”

“What’s up?” asked Chloe.

“Um. I just thought. You know how Hades is married to Persephone and all, right. And Persephone’s my mom’s daughter. Demeter. And how Hecate and Demeter have always been chummy because Hecate was the one who lit Demeter’s path when she went to search for Persephone after Hades kidnapped her?”

Beca stared at him, trying to understand what he was getting at.

“Well, Demeter never really approved of Hades marrying her daughter. Obviously, with Hades’ pet stolen and your mom claiming you, things between them are really tense. So naturally, since Demeter likes Hecate better, she’s probably sided with her. I’m sure she would be willing to help you. And since she’s closely related to Hades whether she likes it or not, she could give you some useful advice.”

“That’s actually very true,” Chloe said. “One question: where can we find Demeter?”

“I think she likes to hang down south,” Benji said. “Um, like Georgia south. I think it’s because there’s a lot of farms there.”

“Okay,” said Chloe. “So we can head there first, ask for her help, find Cerberus, and then bring him to L.A. in three weeks. Seems manageable. Thanks, Benji. That’s really useful information.”

Benji blushed. “I thought it would help,” he said. “Um, good luck. On your quest. Stay safe.”

“Thanks,” said Beca.

“Good luck,” Chiron said.

Beca and Chloe followed Argus to the bottom of the hill. Beca looked back at Camp Half-Blood one last time, then followed Chloe into the back of Argus’s car.

As the minutes passed, the grassy nature landscape of North Long Island gradually gave way to paved roads and modern buildings.

After they reached the highways again, Chloe finally spoke. “We’re going on a quest.”

“We are indeed.”

Chloe squirmed a little in her seat. “I’m kind of nervous.”

“You’re even more jittery than I am,” Beca teased her.

“Hey, you’re not the only person at camp who has ADHD.”

The scenery shot past them in a blur. Every modern mortal building Beca laid eyes upon seemed weird and mystical. Burger King existed, Beca remembered. And normal people went to doctors’ offices, not the Big House’s infirmary. Even though she’d only been at camp for two weeks, she had never felt more at home.

“So,” said Beca, “you get out into the real world much?”

“Most of the time, yeah.” Chloe shrugged. “Usually I’m just a summer camper, but some years, when monster counts are especially high, I have to stay back for the entire year. It’s only happened twice so far.”

“Huh. And you’ve been at camp for what, seven years?”

“Yeah. This is my eight summer,” said Chloe, bringing her hand up to the leather necklace she wore around her neck.

“I’ve seen a lot of people at camp wear that. What’s it for?” asked Beca, noticing what Chloe was playing with.

“It’s the camp necklace,” Chloe explained. “You’ll get one at the end of the summer. The head counselors all meet up at the end and decide on a design to paint on the year’s bead, and then you string it on here and wear it around.”

Beca instinctively went to grab Chloe’s necklace. Thankfully, she didn’t seem to mind, watching Beca count the beads and gaze at each drawing imprinted on them. If Beca had been paying more attention, she would have realized that their faces were mere inches apart.

“So if I survive until August, I’ll get my own leather necklace,” said Beca.

“Yep,” said Chloe.

Beca sighed and leaned back in her seat. “You’re such a veteran. And here I am, a two-week old demigod trying to lead you on a quest.”

“Hey, but you have some kickass powers to help you.”

“True,” said Beca. Then she looked at Chloe curiously. “Do you…do you have any powers?”

“I mean, I can heal most near-fatal injuries,” Chloe answered. “And I guess I can cause different things to happen if I sing specific hymns. But that’s usually within the range of what the average Apollo kid can do.”

“Huh. But isn’t Apollo the god of the sun too?”

“Yeah?”

“So like, can you control sunlight or something? Or just light in general?”

“I’m not sure,” said Chloe. “Me, personally, I have no clue. I’ve never tried and I don’t pay attention to it. But I’ve never heard of a child of Apollo with powers over light before.”

“Oh.”

Argus dropped them off at the closest bus stop in Manhattan around ten, and gave them two hundred dollars for travel fares. Beca clambered out with her backpack and thanked him quickly, jumping up and down to release her contained energy. Sitting still for three hours straight never made ADHD kids feel great.

Chloe obviously shared Beca’s sentiment. “Good to be moving again,” she said happily as Argus waved. Both girls waved back, and then Argus drove away.

They were alone. The quest had officially begun.

“Okay. Let’s get this party started.” Chloe walked up to the giant map of New York pasted on the side of the bus stop. “Are we taking a bus all the way down to Georgia? I feel like that’d take too long.”

“There’s an Amtrak station somewhere around here, isn’t there?” Beca asked.

“Oh yeah, we could take the train. So we can get a bus ride to the station, then?”

They were both squinting at the map, trying without success to make out all the little squiggles and symbols and tiny script. The words and names kept switching letters and blurring, or at least it seemed like they did.

“Um, I can’t read maps,” said Beca.

“Neither can I,” said Chloe.

Then they started cracking up. “We’re so screwed.”

“How about the subway? We can take a subway to the station,” suggested Chloe.

Beca made a face. “Oh gods, no. Underground is even worse. Let’s get on a bus, at least they know where to go.”

They ended up asking a nice old lady how to get to the Amtrak station, and she told them which bus to take. It wasn’t arriving until twenty minutes later.

“Let’s go grab some food for breakfast, then,” said Chloe.

“Yes please, I’m starving,” said Beca. She let Chloe take her wrist and lead her down the streets in search for food.

They found a nice breakfast shop two blocks down and Chloe bought herself two donuts and a bunch of mini hash browns for both of them to share. She also ordered a coffee. With extra sugar.

“Do you really think that’s a good idea?” Beca asked her.

“Nope,” replied Chloe cheerfully.

Beca stared at her skeptically and ordered a breakfast sandwich.

They took their food to a table inside and sat down next to each other. Chloe held up a donut to Beca’s face. Beca was confused for a second.

“Go on, take a bite,” said Chloe, giving her a smile.

So Beca took a huge bite and burst into laughter when Chloe protested. “Here! Have a bite of my sandwich. As payment for my rude behavior.”

Chloe laughed and let Beca feed her a bit of her sandwich. It was a nice feeling, being able to just share food with Chloe. Beca had never gotten to do that with anyone, not even Jesse, at least not like this, with Chloe looking at her expectantly occasionally when Beca went for a hash brown, and Beca automatically popping one in Chloe’s mouth immediately after.

“You sure you don’t want any of this?” Chloe asked, taking another sip of her coffee. “Don’t want the extra energy burst?”

“We’re going to be spending the rest of the day on a train,” Beca said, rolling her eyes. “The last thing I need right now is caffeine.”

Chloe took another sip.

“Oh, give me that,” Beca said, swiping the cup from Chloe’s hands and taking a deep drink. Chloe just watched her, amused.

By the time they had left and returned to the bus station, there were only two minutes left until the bus arrived, and that was just a matter of impatiently waiting the time out before it came rolling into the station. Beca and Chloe clambered on and sat together near the front, and another minute later the bus was off.

“So far, so good,” Beca said, grinning.

Luckily for them, the ride was only half an hour long, because Beca could feel the caffeine beginning to kick in and she was dying to get out and start running wild. She basically sprinted out the bus as soon as it stopped and the door opened, almost leaving Chloe in the dust as she raced towards the Amtrak station.

Chloe later found her a little bit further inside, staring at the ticket purchasing machine and trying to decipher the words on the screen. “Having fun?” commented Chloe.

Beca huffed. “I’m pretty sure that says ‘buy tickets,’ right? Let’s pretend like it is. Umm, what next?”

With Chloe’s help, Beca was eventually able to buy them two tickets to Atlanta. They had to spend all two hundred dollars to get the ride, though.

“So expensive,” whined Beca as the machine ate their money and began to print out the tickets. “How are we going to get to L.A. after this?”

“Let’s not worry about that right now,” said Chloe.

“Good idea,” replied Beca.

They found the place where their train was going to be waiting for them at two fifteen. But they still had three hours to kill before the train arrived, and Beca was not about to spend it waiting aimlessly in the terminal, not when she’d just chugged down half of Chloe’s coffee.

“Wanna go wander around outside?” Beca asked.

“Gladly,” said Chloe.

And wander they did, allowing themselves to stroll kind of far away from the station while they waited for two o’clock to roll around. They went into a bunch of random stores just to poke around and leave again.

Chloe took a beanie off the shelf of the clothes store they were currently in and plopped it on Beca’s head. “You look adorable in this!” she exclaimed. “We should buy it for you.”

Beca took off the beanie to check its price tag and made face. “We should also probably save our money for the three weeks ahead of us,” she reminded Chloe.

“Aw. You’re right.” She put the beanie back where it came from and they left the store.

Beca found herself enjoying simply passing the time casually walking around New York City with Chloe. She almost forgot that they were supposed to be on a quest. She almost forgot there was a god who was very mad at her. She almost forgot that she was a demigod altogether. Beca figured she’d enjoy more days out just exploring new places with Chloe.

They stopped at a random fast food joint to grab something simple to eat, since neither of them were very hungry. By the time it was one-fifteen, they were a ways off from the station.

“One hour left,” Chloe said. “Let’s head back now.”

“Okay,” said Beca.

The sidewalks were dotted with people strolling about.

About halfway to the station Beca happened to glance up at the endless line of unlit streetlamps lining the sidewalks on both sides of the road. “That’s a lot of birds,” she said, whistling.

Chloe looked up as well.

It was true. There were at least four perched on each lamp, as far down the road as they could see.

“Load of birds in New York, I guess,” said Chloe, shrugging.

They kept walking some more. Two blocks down and the birds were still there, standing so still on the streetlamps that Beca almost thought they were fake.

Then she noticed something.

“They’re all staring at us,” said Beca.

“Sure they are,” Chloe said dismissively, but she sounded wary.

“We should hurry up.”

“Yeah, maybe we should.” Chloe grabbed Beca by the arm and they started power walking.

Two seconds later, the birds seemed to grow right before their eyes.

They looked like pigeons before, which immediately should have set off an alarm in Beca’s head because pigeons liked to stay on the ground, not perched on a lamp high up in the air. Now they were much bigger than ordinary pigeons – each of them roughly two feet tall with evil shiny metallic eyes. Their razor-sharp beaks glinted bronze in the sunlight.

Beca and Chloe exchanged a horrified glance. Then they took off in a mad sprint back towards the Amtrak station.

The giant monster pigeons rose into the air in one massive flock, swarming in the air like a terrifying winged tornado. People on the streets started screaming and running. Traffic screeched to a halt. And the birds started dive-bombing for Beca and Chloe.

“They’re Stymphalian birds!” Chloe cursed, pulling out her bow and swatting a barrage of monster pigeons away. “We have to get to our train, now!”

Beca pulled out the little cylinder Jesse had given her while she ran and smashed the button, and the two-foot long Celestial bronze sword spiraled into being. There were evil birds pecking at her from all sides, grazing her skin and making it hard to see in front of her. She pushed the two birds that were attached to her face off and swung the sword in a wild arc, disintegrating a couple in one go.

But there were a hundred more left. She put on an extra burst of energy and dashed madly forward, grabbing Chloe along with her. For once, she was grateful for the remaining caffeine in her system. She felt crazy alert and on her toes as she raced away from the Stymphalian birds, swinging her sword behind her and taking a couple of the monsters each time.

One of the stupid things rocketed down towards Beca from out of nowhere, jabbing her left cheek hard, right below her eye. She yelled and slapped the bird away, reaching up to slash it into oblivion with her sword.

Her cheekbone burned in pain. If the bird had aimed just one inch higher, Beca shuddered to imagine what its bronze beak could have done to her eyeball.

They ran for what seemed like forever, past screeching cars and fleeing people trying to get to safety within the stores along the road, feeling the occasional sharp jab of pain whenever a monster pigeon tried to stab them with their beaks. They were reaching the station now as they rounded the corner.

“We can’t let those things get into the station,” Chloe panted. They were at the entrance, and the sliding doors opened automatically.

Beca suddenly had an idea. “You go on ahead,” she told Chloe. “I’ve got this.”

Chloe seemed to understand, and raced inside the Amtrak station. Beca turned around to face the wall of big angry pigeons descending down upon her and the screaming citizens.

She shoved her hands forwards and concentrated as hard as she could, pouring all her energy into stopping the stupid birds in midair.

But she had enough difficulty controlling two things at once, let alone fifty live monsters. She strained against the pressure of her telekinesis. She couldn’t stop them completely, only slow them down.

Something behind Beca beeped loudly and someone grabbed her by the back of her shirt, yanking her back forcefully as the sliding doors moved to close. “I hit the emergency button,” Chloe said roughly, taking Beca by the shoulders and leading her quickly through the station. “Let’s go! It’s almost two-fifteen.”

Beca sneaked a glance behind her and saw the sliding doors grind shut, but not before about five of the birds made it into the station. Luckily, however, the remaining birds slammed against the glass, charging and diving, but the doors refused to budge.

Chloe shoved her tickets into the supervisor’s face, who took the slips of paper lazily without even batting an eye. “No weapons allowed on the trains,” he said with a bored expression on his face.

“Right, sorry,” Beca said hurriedly, clicking the button on her sword. It shrank back into a cylinder and she shoved it into her pocket.

Chloe grabbed the confirmed tickets right out of the supervisor guy’s hands and she and Beca sprinted madly for the correct terminal, five Stymphalian birds hot on their heels. Peoples’ heads turned as they passed. Beca wondered vaguely what they saw with their mortal eyes. Two teenage girls being followed by a bunch of pigeons?

They reached the train, where it was waiting in all its glory at the station with its door propped open. The clock overhead read “2:14 P.M.”

Chloe dashed up the steps first, followed by Beca, who felt a stab of pain through her back. She almost jumped ten feet into the air. Instead, she turned around and shoved the air in front of her, sending the five birds tumbling back.

“Beca, what are you–” she heard Chloe say from right behind her. The birds were struggling against Beca, sluggishly forming a straight line in an attempt to coordinate a deadly bird javelin throw. Beca could feel her remaining energy seep out of her. She couldn’t hold on for much longer.

“ _S_ _ū_ _ge mihi asinum!_ ” Chloe swore behind her.

A bronze arrow whizzed past Beca. It went clean through the chest of the first bird and continued to impale each and every other one behind it, stabbing all of the monster pigeons clean in one go and hurtling through the air. By the time the arrow lodged itself onto the far wall, all of the Stymphalian birds had disintegrated, leaving five neat piles of monster dust on the ground.

“Wow,” said Beca, amazed, turning to look back at Chloe with her bow in one hand. “That was an epic shot.” She was so exhausted from attempting to use her telekinesis that she tried to take one step and tripped.

“Easy there,” Chloe said, wrapping her free arm around Beca as she stumbled backwards into her. “You overexerted yourself. Let’s go find us two seats.”

As they passed through the rows, one of the train attendants said, “Careful with that lacrosse stick.”

“What?” Beca mumbled, leaning on Chloe for support.

“It’s okay,” Chloe told her. “He means my bow. Mist.”

“Oh yeah. Gotcha.”

Chloe deposited Beca in an empty window seat before moving to sit beside her. They had just enough time to toss their stuff underneath the seats and get settled before the doors closed and the train started moving. Before long, the station was out of sight, and New York passed by them in a blur.

“That was close,” Beca breathed. “I’m going to need several years to recover from that attack.”

Chloe sighed in agreement, dropping her bow on the ground under their feet. Beca’s legs felt like lead. She’d just sprinted for an hour basically nonstop, and on top of that, had tried to control a bunch of Stymphalian birds with her mind not once, but twice. Chloe seemed in a bit better shape, having spent the past seven years of her life preparing for situations just like this one.

“I think we did pretty well,” said Chloe. She turned to face Beca to look at her wounds.

Beca had gotten scratched up a lot and her T-shirt was torn in a few places, but beside that, there wasn’t much else. The only big injury was the deep cut on her left cheekbone.

“Is it bad?” Beca asked her. “It kinda stings a bit.”

“Nothing I can’t fix,” Chloe responded, reaching down into her back to bring out a small piece of cloth. She used it to wipe away the blood and grime on Beca’s cheek while humming a little hymn to Apollo. Whatever she was singing worked. The pain on Beca’s face was subsiding.

“There we go, it’s closed up now. There’s a little scar, but give it a few days and it should be gone,” Chloe said brightly.

Then she leaned forward and kissed the wound gently. Beca felt electricity shoot through her face at the contact, and when Chloe pulled away, she could still feel her skin tingling.

“Do your kisses have magical healing properties too?” Beca muttered absentmindedly. “You should do that again. In fact, you should do that to all the cuts I got.”

Chloe laughed. “Get some rest,” she told Beca. “There’s a long train ride ahead of us.”


	6. Deep Fried in the Deep South

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lalalala Elmo's world hello I hope you doin ok

“Psst. Hey Beca.”

“What?”

“Are you sleeping?”

“No?”

For some reason Chloe was trying not to laugh. “Why doesn’t Aphrodite date tennis players?”

Beca was confused. “Um, I don’t know?”

“Because love means nothing to them.”

Beca buried her face in Chloe’s shoulder and groaned. She could feel Chloe’s body shaking with laughter. “Please no, I’m too tired for your drunken happiness right now,” Beca whined.

“It’s not even nighttime yet,” said Chloe, a big smile on her face.

Most of the afternoon had passed by on the train ride, and they were still rolling down to the South as the sun moved closer and closer to the horizon. Beca had spent the hours mostly bouncing up and down nonstop in her seat, but now all her energy was gone and she was leaning heavily into Chloe, facing the window and watching the rolling hills and open plains streak by. As far as she could tell, they were somewhere in the middle of Virginia at this point.

“But it’s been a long day,” Beca said. “Can we go get dinner now? What time is it?”

Chloe turned around to ask the guy in the row behind them what the time was. She turned back around after a very brief conversation. “Apparently it’s almost seven,” said Chloe. “Hungry already?”

“I barely ate anything for lunch,” said Beca. “And if I have to sit still for a second longer, I think I’ll explode.”

So they got up and stretched a bit, then headed down the aisle to move back into the Café car, since Dining was too expensive for them. They had to go through two more coach seating cars before getting to it.

It was a nice enough place considering it was cramped into the small confines of a train car, with tables lining one side, surrounded by seats with plush cushions. Beca and Chloe found one that was empty and settled in on opposite sides, facing each other.

Chloe bought burgers for both of them at the counter while Beca saved their seat. She came over after a short wait and dropped one in front of Beca before sitting down herself.

“So when do we get off?” Beca asked.

“I think it’s tomorrow morning at eight,” replied Chloe.

“Huh.”

They finished their meal in silence. It was getting dark outside, the sky turning from pink to deep purple. While they continued to linger in the café, Beca for some strange reason felt more energetic, more powerful. She looked down at her empty plate and flicked her wrist. The plate rose up into the air with ease.

Chloe was watching Beca curiously as she tested out her telekinesis on other objects around them, even lifting up the table and everything on it without much difficulty at all.

“What are you doing?” Chloe asked.

“Nothing,” said Beca. “Um, even though it’s been a long day, and I was really tired before, I feel better right now. And my powers are a lot easier to use.”

“Hmm.” Chloe gazed outside the window. “Maybe it’s because it’s nighttime. Hecate is sometimes associated with the moon or the night, so maybe your powers are stronger now than during the day.”

“Oh, really?” said Beca. “What an interesting coincidence.”

“What coincidence?”

“You know, me being strong at night. I’m like the moon. And your dad is the god of the sun, and you’re always so bright and happy, like daytime.”

Chloe laughed softly. “You’re right,” she said. “You’re the moon and I’m the sun. It’s like it was meant to be.”

“Yeah, except no one likes looking at the sun in the face, but I like looking at you. So you can’t possibly be the sun.” Beca had no idea where that had come from. Oh well. Too late to take it back now.

“Aw, you’re right,” Chloe responded, smiling. “But then you can’t be the moon then. Because the moon is dark and mysterious, not small and adorable.”

“Rude,” said Beca, pretending to be offended.

They threw their trash away and headed back to their original train car. Chloe stepped aside to allow Beca into the row first. The two of them sat together for a while. Chloe looked like she was deep in thought.

Beca was thinking about a lot of things as well. Judging by the darkness outside, she figured that the demigods back at Camp Half-Blood would be heading towards the campfire at that moment. She wondered what they were doing, if any of them thought of her and Chloe. She wondered what Aubrey and Stacie and Jesse and the others would be up to, what kind of stuff they’d done during the day while she was running from bird monsters. And she suddenly remembered–

“I wonder how my dad’s doing right now,” Beca said out loud. “Oh man, I haven’t seen or even talked to him at all since he sent me off to camp with Jesse two weeks ago. I bet he doesn’t even know I’m on a quest right now.” She felt guilty for not having thought about informing him until now. She’d just been so wrapped up in the fact that she was half-god that she had kind of forgotten about the mortal side of her family.

“If you want, once we get off the train we can find somewhere to send an Iris message to him,” Chloe offered.

“An Iris what?”

“Iris message. Iris, goddess of rainbows? She can relay conversations back and forth between two people as long as you pay her in golden drachmas.”

“Huh. Yeah, I think I’d like that,” Beca said worriedly. “I hope the hellhounds didn’t tear down our apartment and get him. He could be dead right now and I wouldn’t even know.”

“He’s probably fine,” Chloe assured her. “Monsters don’t tend to go after mortals. I don’t think they would have any reason to attack him if you’re not around to attract them with your scent.”

“I guess so,” said Beca, shrugging. “You know, now that I’m thinking about it, I’m kind of curious as to what made Hecate fall in love with my dad. Because she’s a full-blown goddess and he’s just a human.”

“Well, what do _you_ love about him?” Chloe asked.

“Me?” asked Beca, surprised. She hadn’t really thought about that before, either. “I…I don’t really know. He was just _there_ in my life, you know. I guess…he was really helpful and supportive of me sometimes. And when I told him about how I’d been attacked by monsters at school, he immediately tried to get me to safety. He used to always reward me too, bake these delicious brownies whenever I passed a test.”

Chloe smiled softly. “He sounds like a great guy.”

“I guess he is,” admitted Beca. “Now I feel like an asshole for never bothering to think about it that way.”

“You’re not an asshole, Beca,” said Chloe, moving over to lean her head on Beca’s shoulder. “In fact, I think you’re the opposite of one.”

“So a hole ass,” said Beca.

Chloe laughed. “You’re adorable.”

Usually Beca didn’t appreciate it when people called her cute, but Chloe saying it made her feel very content.

They sat like that for a few minutes. Beca would have assumed that Chloe had fallen asleep on her shoulder if she hadn’t fidgeted and shifted her position every once in a while.

“What about your family?” Beca asked.

“Huh?”

“What’s your mom like?”

Beca felt Chloe stiffen and she immediately regretted asking the question.

“She’s okay,” said Chloe nonchalantly, but Beca heard her voice waver a little. She lifted her head from Beca’s shoulder to look at her. “She’s dead, but she’s okay.”

“Oh,” said Beca. “Um, I’m sorry about that.”

“Don’t be.” For a split second, Beca swore she saw Chloe’s expression darken. It kind of terrified her a little bit, but before she could do anything, Chloe was smiling again, albeit wistfully this time. “It’s probably better that way.”

Beca wanted to ask more, but Chloe had looked away, and she knew she’d gone too far with the personal questions. She felt bad.

_Chloe’s drifting away from you,_ her mind said. _She doesn’t like you anymore._

Shut up, Beca told herself.

_Confront a friend_ , her mind said.

I’m going to punch you in the face, Beca thought.

 Half an hour later and Chloe still wasn’t looking at Beca, instead opting to stare down the aisle, switching her gaze from passenger to passenger, from older men in suits on their laptops to women reading books to younger people snoozing in their seats. Beca felt horrible for bringing this change. She was so used to happy, supportive Chloe that she might have overlooked the fact that maybe Chloe had her limits as well.

So as an apology, Beca shifted and put her head in Chloe’s lap, curling up on her own seat. Chloe jumped a little, surprised. Apparently she’d been deep in thought, but now Beca could feel her gaze burning the back of her head. She heard Chloe sigh, quietly, and then moved one hand towards Beca’s head, twirling her hair around her finger. The movement was constant and slow, and to Beca, it seemed a little mournful as well.

“I’m sorry,” Beca said.

“Don’t worry about it,” said Chloe gently. “Go to sleep.”

 

…

 

Beca woke the next morning to the sound of the conductor’s voice over the intercom, telling the passengers that they had ten minutes until the train pulled into the Atlanta station.

She felt Chloe’s arm around her shoulder lift, and Beca got up, momentarily disoriented by the amount of light shining through the window. She rubbed her eyes and turned to look at Chloe, who stretched, then reached under her seat for her bow and her backpack.

“Welcome to the Deep South,” she said to Beca, grinning.

“Now to find a plant goddess,” Beca said in reply, swinging her backpack over her shoulder.

They waited until the train gradually slowed, and then the station came into view. The train came to a stop and the doors slid open. A couple people besides Beca and Chloe had gotten up to leave as well.

Beca stepped out onto the platform and Chloe followed her out of the station, out onto the Atlanta streets.

“What now?” Beca asked.

“How about we rent a motel room or something? We haven’t gotten a chance to wash on the train, and I think we’re going to be staying in Georgia for longer than just one day, so we can put all our stuff down,” suggested Chloe.

“Good idea,” agreed Beca. “Lead the way, then.”

They ended up finding a fairly cheap Holiday Inn near the Georgia Aquarium/CNN Center area, and Chloe got them checked into a room with two twin beds.

“Remind me again why Chiron thought we’d be able to survive three weeks with minimal money?” Beca grumbled, fumbling to decipher the receipt as Chloe swiped a key card into the lock of their room.

“I think we’ll be fine,” said Chloe, pushing open the door and gesturing for Beca to enter. “I still have a couple hundred. Brought a little extra with me.”

“Good, because it’s the second day and I only have like eighty dollars left.”

Beca flopped onto the bed closest to the door and dropped her backpack down on the ground beside it. Her face was smashed into the blankets, but she could hear Chloe walk towards the other bed, put her stuff away, and say, “You wanna shower first? Or do I?”

“I’ll go first, then,” said Beca. She reached over to pull out a change of clothes from her backpack and headed into the bathroom.

The hot water felt great and definitely made the remains of the Stymphalian bird scratches on her arms and legs feel much better. A sense of renewed energy flowed through her as the water ran down her beaten up body. In fact, she was feeling so great, she started singing in the shower.

“I would have mistaken you for a child of Apollo, with that voice,” said Chloe from out of nowhere.

Beca screamed.

Later, after finishing her shower and fumbling to get a towel to cover herself with, Beca stepped out from behind the curtain to find Chloe brushing her teeth. She sighed and hurried past Chloe, hiding under the blankets of her bed. She didn’t move to change into a clean set of clothes until she heard the sound of the shower’s running water again.

Beca waited for Chloe to finish cleaning up. Then, when they were both dressed and washed and resting comfortably on their respective beds, Chloe asked, “Now what do you want to do?”

“Uh, can we go get an Iris message? Or however you do it. I think my dad deserves to know what I’ve been up to these days.”

“Sure,” said Chloe. “We’re going to have to find a way to make a big rainbow, then. Car wash sounds good.”

“What?”

Chloe led Beca outside to search for a do-it-yourself car wash. They found one eventually after around half an hour of wandering, and went into an open stall.

“Here,” said Chloe, handing Beca the spray gun.

“What am I doing with this?” Beca asked.

“Just hold it for me while I get it set up,” said Chloe, fishing a dollar bill out of her pocket and sticking it into the machine. “Okay, here goes.”

She hit the FINE MIST button and water shot out from the nozzle in Beca’s hands, the sunlight hitting the vapor and forming a pretty impressive rainbow.

“This is the weirdest way to contact someone ever,” said Beca.

“Well, demigods can’t use cell phones, so this is the best alternative,” said Chloe. She took out a drachma and threw it into the rainbow while saying, “O goddess, accept our offering.”

The drachma disappeared.

“Um,” said Beca.

“Here, give me the spray gun,” said Chloe. “Go ahead and tell it where you want to contact.”

“I what?”

“Say like your dad’s apartment or something.”

“Um, okay.” Beca gave Chloe the spray gun and turned towards the rainbow mist. “Can I talk to my dad, who is probably in our apartment right now?”

The rainbow seemed to shimmer. Then suddenly it showed a vision of Beca’s apartment, specifically her dad’s office, where he was typing away on his laptop. Beca almost reached out to touch his shoulder, it looked so real, but Beca knew it was just a connection.

“Hey, uh, dad?” Beca said tentatively.

Her dad turned, wide-eyed and clearly surprised, but he also looked a little relieved. “Beca?”

“Hello,” said Beca.

“You surprised me! How are you doing? I’m assuming you made it to camp safely? How’s it been?”

“It’s – it’s pretty great, dad.” Beca rubbed the back of her neck nervously. “I met mom. Well, I didn’t actually meet her, but I know who she is now. She claimed me.”

“That’s great,” said her dad. “How’s training been at camp? Have you made any friends?”

“Yeah, dad,” Beca said. “I have loads. Um, actually I have to tell you something.”

“What’s up?”

“I may have gotten myself a quest. And I might be hundreds of miles away in Atlanta as we speak.”

Her dad’s jaw dropped. It would have been funny to see if it weren’t for the worry in his eyes. “Beca – but how, you’re just a novice, you’ve barely known you were a demigod for two weeks!”

“Um yeah, except Hades hates me and thinks I stole his dog.”

“What?”

“He, uh, he kind of thought it was suspicious how I was never attacked by monsters until I was sixteen, since apparently I’m super powerful or whatever and most powerful kids go at twelve or younger.”

For some reason Beca’s dad was looking guilty. “What’s the matter?” asked Beca. Did she say something wrong?

“Your mother…she was worried,” he said slowly. “And I was too. Most children of smaller, lesser known gods don’t have a very strong aura, but for some reason, you do. You were destined for great things at birth. And your mother warned me that you’d have monsters on your tail nonstop from a very, very young age. I – I couldn’t bear that. I didn’t want to lose my only child.”

Her dad looked away for a moment. Beca glanced at Chloe to see that she was staring intently at the wire connecting the spray gun to the operating machine, fumbling with it and pulling it back and forth repeatedly. She was trying to give Beca all the privacy she could while having to stand five feet away, and Beca was grateful for that.

“I asked your mother if there was anything she could do,” her dad said finally. “To keep you under the radar, to keep you here with me longer. So she covered your path in Mist. Shrouded you and our apartment in mystery, so that no monster could ever find you. That’s why, that’s why you’ve lasted until this long.”

“O-oh.”

“I’m sorry,” said Beca’s dad.

“Don’t be,” Beca protested. “You kept me safe and alive for the majority of my childhood, how could you be sorry for that?”

“Because Hades wouldn’t have been suspicious if I had just let you go off to Camp Half-Blood, probably year-round, like any other demigod. It was my selfishness that got you into this mess.”

“Dad!” Beca felt terrible. “It’s fine, it’s totally fine, don’t feel bad for wanting to protect me! Hades just got epically pissed at the wrong person, I can fix this, I just wanted to tell you what I was doing so you wouldn’t have to worry.”

Her dad sighed, staring shamefully at the ground. “Your mother and the Lord of the Underworld were never on good terms,” he said. “And I knew this. Sure, Hecate was friends with Demeter, and Demeter’s daughter Persephone was married to Hades, but your mother and Hades always had a rocky relationship. I knew this, and I still had Hecate protect you from Hades’ monsters, knowing full well the kind of grudges that Hades could hold. Gods aren’t supposed to show favoritism towards their children.”

“Dad, it’s okay,” Beca insisted. “It’s fine. I’ll be fine. I just thought you deserved to know how I am. Don’t worry about me, I have someone along on the quest and we’ll fix the problem.”

“Promise me you’ll stay safe,” her dad said sadly. “I wouldn’t be able to – if you were to –”

The water was beginning to shut off, and the mist was evaporating into the air. Their time was up.

“I’ll make it back alive,” said Beca. “I promise.”

The image of her dad faded into nothing.

Chloe put the spray gun back onto its stand.

“Well, this sucks,” said Beca. “I wasn’t expecting that to happen.”

“He seems like a really caring guy,” Chloe said cautiously.

“I never even knew,” said Beca. She kept her gaze trained on the ground as they walked away from the car wash.

Chloe tentatively took Beca’s hand in her own and gave it a reassuring squeeze. It made Beca feel a little better. They started back off towards their hotel room, the late morning sunlight shining down on them.

“So, where would you be able to attract the attention of the goddess of agriculture?” Beca asked.

Chloe shrugged. “Dunno. Somewhere grassy and nature-y?”

“So, we can try Centennial Olympic Park?” Beca suggested.

“Sure,” said Chloe. “It’s right nearby, actually.”

By the time they made it to the grassy, open field of the park, there was already something else there waiting for them.

“Surprise,” groaned Beca.

There was a giant serpent-like dragon slinking across the field, occasionally lifting up its head to belch out a fury of flames. The nearby trees were on fire. People were screaming and running away.

“That’s the Colchian dragon,” Chloe said, looking really confused. “In the myths it was the dragon who guarded the Golden Fleece. Is this what it does in its free time?”

“Whatever it does, we have to stop him, now!” said Beca. “It’s destroying nature and I’m pretty sure that’s the opposite of what Demeter wants.”

The dragon paused in its path of destruction to lift its head and sniff the air, and then suddenly its black, beady eyes were trained on where Beca and Chloe were standing.

“I hate this,” said Beca, pulling out her sword and activating it. Next to her, Chloe had her bow positioned and an arrow nocked.

The dragon roared and charged. So did Beca.

When Beca was within ten feet of the monster’s snout, it slammed its head into the ground, trying to crush Beca. She dived to the side and just barely avoided getting smashed. Then the dragon swung its head around and knocked Beca straight into the air, where she landed several yards away, hard, on her back.

An arrow sailed through the air and impaled itself on the dragon’s scaly skin, but it was too thick, and didn’t do much besides annoy the dragon. Its thick shell was ringed with razor-sharp white spikes. The dragon was looking down at Beca, who was lying on the ground, trying to get her breath back, and opened its mouth.

“Oh gods,” Beca yelled at she thrust her hands forward just as the dragon tried to breathe fire on her, and she just barely managed to stop the flames from reaching her and burning her into a demigod crisp. She tried to redirect the direction of the fire and succeeded in piling it onto the dragon’s face. It roared and retreated a few yards, shaking its head to clear the flames. But it had come out unscathed.

Beca scrambled to her feet and jumped forward to swing her sword down upon the dragon’s snout, but its hide was too tough. She barely made a scratch. The dragon swung its tail around, trying to swat Beca away again, but she anticipated it this time, and jumped straight onto its back.

She tried to ignore the way the baby spikes on its back were digging into her calves and instead focused on crawling up towards the dragon’s head while it bucked around, attempting to throw her off.

Then Chloe fired an arrow into the dragon’s eyeball, and the monster went nuts.

On the bad side, Beca got thrown off the dragon and landed a bit roughly, but still on her feet. On the flip side, the dragon was now basically blind, since the arrow had sunk straight through the dragon’s face and knocked out both its eyes.

On the bad side again, the dragon was now going berserk and trying to set fire to every inch of air around them.

Chloe rushed over to where Beca was. “Are you okay?” she said worriedly.

“Peachy,” Beca panted. “How do you kill this thing?”

“Well, in the myths, the witch Medea put it to sleep,” said Chloe, “and then Jason the Argonaut killed it.”

The dragon set a few more trees on fire.

Chloe seemed to get a sudden idea. “Cover your ears,” she said to Beca.

“What? Why?”

“Just do it!” Chloe pulled out an arrow and shot the dragon in its side, just to get its attention. “Oi, loser! Over here!” she yelled.

The dragon roared and slithered towards the sound of Chloe’s voice, hissing angrily. Chloe stepped closer as the dragon approached, bravely holding her ground even as the dragon blew fire into the air two feet away from where she was standing.

Then she started to sing.

Even Beca from far away, with her hands clamped over her ears, could hear how beautiful Chloe’s voice was. And how powerful. And she could see how it was affecting the dragon.

The monster’s movements became more and more sluggish, and it tried to fight against Chloe’s voice, belching out a weak flame that dissipated quickly. Chloe kept singing, her eyes fixed on the dragon the entire time.

Beca’s eyelids were drooping as well. She fought against the urge to sleep while she watched the dragon suffer under the same spell.

When Chloe finished the last note of her song, the dragon fell to the ground, curled up and deep in sleep.

Wow, Beca thought.

Chloe was rushing back towards Beca, and suddenly she was aware that she was being shaken rapidly. Her vision cleared. She snapped wide awake again.

“Oh no, did you get affected too?” Chloe said, laughing. “I’m so sorry. It’s either sing to everything around me or don’t sing at all.” She looked around her. Some of the people who had been running away had stopped, blinking and yawning and trudging wearily around, like they were in a daze. A few had even fallen asleep completely.

“Dude, that was amazing,” Beca said. “Your voice is amazing. Holy crap.”

Chloe seemed to glow at the praise. Her smile was wide and genuine. “Thanks, Beca. It’s all I can do. Now go take the dragon down.”

“What? Me?”

“Of course,” said Chloe. “I’m Medea. And you’re Jason. So now it’s your turn to slay it.”

Beca stumbled uneasily towards the snoring dragon, lifting her sword in the air. She’d been barely able to make a dent earlier when she tried slashing at the dragon. How was she supposed to be able to kill it entirely?

“You can do it,” said Chloe from behind her. She squeezed Beca’s shoulder supportively. “Show the world what you’re made of.”

Energy flowed into Beca. Chloe stepped aside while Beca moved closer towards the dragon’s neck, raising the sword purposefully above her head. Beca didn’t even realize her hands were glowing, and her grip on the sword was causing it to crackle with a faint yellowish power.

_I hope you’re watching me_ , Beca thought to Hecate.

And she swung with all her might.

The sword sliced straight through the dragon’s neck, severing its head front the rest of its serpentine body. The monster disintegrated into a massive pile of ash that slowly sank into the ground, but the head remained, dead and stony in the center of the park field.

Beca was still feeling powerful, looking down at the dragon’s head, a spoil of war. Chloe stepped forward, side-by-side with Beca, and nudged her playfully. “Not bad,” she said, raising her hand for a high five.

“Good teamwork,” Beca agreed.

Chloe laughed. “Your hands are glowing.”

Beca looked down at her hands. The glow was already fading away. “Weird. They are. I wonder if it’s some cool new power I have.”

“Maybe.” Chloe grabbed Beca’s hands under the pretense of inspecting them, but she didn’t let go after a really long while, instead opting to drop them to their sides, swinging them back and forth. And Beca totally didn’t mind them holding hands, staring at each other and grinning stupidly.

Something behind Beca stirred. Beca spun around just in time to see the leaves on the ground swirl into the air, forming a column of spiraling foliage.

Chloe had taken a step back, obviously thinking this was some other monster getting ready to attack them. But when the leaves fell back onto the ground, a beautiful older woman stepped out in front of them. She had flowing blond hair the color of fresh, ripe wheat.

She was wearing a deep green dress and had a curved golden blade strapped to her side, but she didn’t appear to be hostile. When she caught sight of Beca and Chloe standing there gaping at her, she smiled, all loving and maternal-like.

“Hello, dears,” she said. “Thank you for saving the natural landscape from that blasted dragon. I am Demeter. How may I assist you?”


	7. Annoying Dragon Monster #2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear people reading this,  
> I LOVE ALL OF YOU.   
> MANY THANK for reading my stuffs
> 
> I hope you enjoy as much as I enjoy writing. I think. Yeah.

“Uh, hello,” said Beca. “I’m Beca Mitchell.”

“So I’ve heard,” said Demeter pleasantly.

“You have?” Beca asked, surprised.

“Oh, yes,” said Demeter. “My daughter Persephone talks about you all the time. You’ve sure worked Hades up into a fit. Which, good on you, by the way.”

“But I wasn’t even the one who stole Cerberus,” Beca protested.

“I know. But once Hades sets his eyes on a target, it’s hard to make him budge. Especially when his target is someone powerful enough to have been able to pull off the theft, if it actually had been you.”

“Everyone keeps saying I’m super powerful,” Beca said, exasperated. “I don’t get it. Am I missing something? I’m not even that good at fighting.”

“You just took down the Colchian dragon,” Demeter noted.

“With Chloe’s help!”

“How many kids do you know have telekinesis? And a surprising amount of control over it too, considering the time you’ve spent working with it.”

“Why would I know? My only two siblings are both off a thousand miles away doing their own thing!”

“Beca,” Demeter said patiently. “You’ve had less than two weeks of training, yet you’ve survived through numerous monster attacks. You’re something special.”

“I don’t feel special,” said Beca. “I don’t even know what I’m doing on this quest. If it weren’t for Chloe, I’d probably be in the middle of the Pacific Ocean right now or something equally pathetic.”

Chloe was holding Beca’s hand again. She had no idea how or when it had happened but she wasn’t planning on letting go anytime soon.

“I can help with that,” said Demeter.

Beca perked up. “You can?”

“Of course I can,” said Demeter. “Your mother was very kind to me, you know, back when that incompetent Hades kidnapped my Persephone. She helped me light my path with her torches. We’re on very good terms, it only makes sense for me to assist her daughter.”

“Do you maybe know who actually stole Cerberus, Lady Demeter?” Chloe asked politely.

“No, dear, sadly I do not,” Demeter admitted. “Whoever did it managed to hide their identity and trick Hades, so if they can trick even that slob, they can trick all the gods. Which is also why Hades suspects you, Beca. He never liked me much so consequently he did not like Hecate much, so when Hecate gave birth to you, well…”

“I have a question,” said Beca. “If only children of Hecate have that much power over the Mist, then is the thief guaranteed to be one of Hecate’s kids?”

“Well, Mist isn’t the only way to conceal a person’s path. I presume that Hades’ own children would have sufficient control over the shadows to cover themselves, but the two known demigod offspring of Hades in existence would never do such a thing to their own father,” said Demeter, shrugging.

Sirens sounded in the distance. Police cars and fire trucks were pulling up towards the park and the mini forest fire the Colchian dragon had caused. “Let’s find somewhere more private to talk,” said Demeter.

Demeter’s idea of “more private” was a small organic salad shop along the streets with only a few customers chilling inside. A waiter came over to ask them if they wanted anything. Demeter ordered something, then turned to Chloe and Beca. “Would you like to eat anything? Nothing tastes better than non-artificially grown fresh produce.”

Normally Beca hated salads, but they hadn’t eaten anything since the burger on the train, so she and Chloe got a large one to share. Beca brought out her dwindling wad of cash, prepared to pay, but Demeter waved her away. “Meal’s on me,” she said airily.

“Are you sure?” Beca asked uncertainly.

Demeter laughed. “I’m a goddess, dear. I think I can hold my own. But anyway. You seek help from me.”

“Uh, yes,” said Beca. “Benji told us you might be willing to assist us on our quest.”

Demeter smiled slightly at the mention of her son. “Ah, yes, that young boy. So shy, but so much potential. How is he doing at camp?”

“Great,” said Beca. “I heard he tried to strangle an Ares kid with vines.”

“Good on him,” said Demeter agreeably. “So, what did you steal from Hades again?”

“Nothing,” said Beca.

“Cerberus,” said Chloe, elbowing Beca in the ribs.

“Oh yes. That blasted dog. When he’s not on guard duty he likes to prance around in my carefully constructed gardens in the Underworld and trample over all my flowers. No respect for nature.”

Beca blinked. “There are gardens in the Underworld?”

“Well, I can’t let Persephone stay down there alone during the six months of the year she has to spend with her husband, so sometimes I go with her. And the Underworld is such an ugly place! No plants in sight. So I took it upon myself to build some in my own little area.”

“What about Cerberus?” Chloe asked tentatively, trying to get the goddess back on topic again.

“Oh yes, Cerberus,” said Demeter. “I may have sneaked a tracker onto his collar so I could tell when he was getting close to my precious gardens and then scare him away.”

Beca immediately understood the implications of Demeter’s statement. “And you can track him wherever he goes? Even above the Underworld?”

“Well, yes, if only my tracking device worked right now.”

Beca was confused, but Chloe said, “What happened to it?”

“Someone got ahold of it and tried to take it apart. And they succeeded, too, ran off with the most important piece.” Demeter waved her hand and a shimmering bronze cube about two inches wide appeared in front of her. The goddess plucked it out of the air, where it easily fit in her palm, and made a face. “I didn’t even know it was _possible_ to sever the compass from the rest of the tracker. It’s going to take a lot of magic to reattach it.”

She slid the cube across the table. Beca picked it up. At the top of the cube was a deep circular impression where she assumed the compass was supposed to fit.

“Is that where the dragon came from?” she asked, looking back up at Demeter.

“Probably,” said Demeter. “Whoever summoned it clearly did it to try and throw me off their path.”

“So that must have been the real thief then,” Chloe reasoned. “They must have realized you had a method to track Cerberus, so they came and tried to get rid of it. But then, why didn’t they just try to destroy the collar?”

“Hades may have made it impossible to remove,” Demeter said. “Fat lot of good it did him, he still lost the darned dog anyways.”

Their salads arrived. Beca put down the broken tracker while Chloe moved to feed Beca.

“Ugh, this is so healthy,” Beca complained after a few mouthfuls.

Demeter simply watched, amused, as Chloe stabbed more salad onto the fork and held it up to Beca, who reluctantly ate every bite.

“You won’t regret it when you feel clean and fresh with all-natural energy,” Demeter told Beca. She took the tracker back and it disappeared in her hand with a little flash. “So! If you two are able to find the compass, bring it back to me, and I will fix the tracker and give it to you. That is my offer.”

“Okay, sounds good,” said Chloe, because Beca’s mouth was full of food. “Do you perhaps have any idea where the compass could be?”

“Sadly, I did not put a tracker on my tracker,” said Demeter, “but it shouldn’t be far from here at all. I doubt it’s left Atlanta, the compass was stolen just recently. And it’s made of Celestial bronze, so I can sense it in a way.”

“Okay. Thank you very much, Lady Demeter,” Chloe said gratefully.

“Anytime, dears,” said Demeter, and she disappeared in a whirl of light.

Beca accepted another bite of salad from Chloe. “Gods are interesting,” she said when she could speak again.

“They are,” Chloe agreed.

“Any ideas where to search for said Celestial bronze tracker?”

“Nope,” said Chloe cheerfully.

After a short bit of silence, Beca said, “You want to know what I think?”

“Hmm?”

“It’s been like three days, right? So we have like eighteen more to finish our quest.”

“What’s your point?”

“So it would totally be okay if we just wasted one of those days, you know, exploring the city, right? Visiting whatever famous places Atlanta has to offer. Maybe. If you wanted.”

Chloe’s entire expression lit up. “Oh! We can go tour the World of Coca-Cola,” she said. “It sounds like fun, I’ve never been before.”

“Sure,” said Beca. She was grinning now. “Awesome.”

So after they left the restaurant they walked the few miles it took to get to the World of Coca-Cola, mostly spending the time just talking and laughing. Chloe was telling Beca and bunch of goofy stories about things that had happened to her and her friends in past years at Camp Half-Blood.

“I remember when Stacie first came to camp,” Chloe was saying to Beca. They were strolling casually along the sidewalk and brushing shoulders occasionally while they smiled at Chloe’s memories. “She had actually just turned fifteen right before arriving, actually. That’s a really, really late age to be coming into camp for the first time. So we figured, her aura’s probably not that strong, after all she passed through the border without a monster chasing her. And then she had too much strawberry soda on her first night here and ended up mistaking Aubrey’s bunk for her own. I heard she tried to spoon Aubrey too, instead of just leaving. It was hilarious, Aubrey apparently screamed, she was so flustered. That’s when we realized that anyone who could get _Aubrey Posen_ flustered was most definitely a child of Aphrodite.”

Beca laughed. She could easily picture Stacie from two years ago doing such a thing to Aubrey. “Please tell me Stacie pranked Aubrey all the time.”

“Of course she did,” said Chloe. “Sometimes she made me help her. And she’s big on dares, too. Once, last year, her second summer at camp she dared Fat Amy to drop kick Bumper into the lake.”

“Did she do it?” Beca asked eagerly.

“Oh, totes.” Chloe shook her head, laughing. “Everyone made a circle around them to watch. Poor guy went flying. And then afterwards Cynthia Rose dared Stacie to do the same to Aubrey.”

“Oh no,” said Beca, but she couldn’t wipe the smile off her face.

“Oh _yes_ ,” said Chloe. “Aubrey did not go down without a fight. She ended up dragging Stacie into the water with her.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Beca asked, rolling her eyes and grinning at the same time.

“You know, Aubrey used to be a _lot_ more uptight than she is now. I remember she used to yell and grill new campers the moment they stepped into the Hermes cabin. I think being forced to put up with Stacie has loosened her up quite a bit.”

“Interesting.”

At that point Beca’s hand accidentally brushed against Chloe’s, and she thought, screw it, and reached for it. Chloe seemed a bit surprised, especially after Beca didn’t let go.

“What? Don’t look at me like that,” Beca complained. “It just feels weird if I don’t.”

Chloe stared at her with an amused look.

“Shut up,” said Beca.

“I didn’t even say anything.”

“Well, too bad! Shut up anyways!”

Chloe laughed, and she swung their joined hands gently back and forth as they continued their trek towards the Coca-Cola building.

They arrived eventually and got in the moderately long line in front of the ticket booth. They fished out sixteen dollars each to pay for the price of admission, and then they went in.

It was pretty fun. They spent a lot of time in each section just taking it all in.

Well, Chloe took it all in. She looked at all the photos and writing on the walls in wonder and hung onto every word that the tour guides said. They had to stop and watch every little looping video around the place, and every single time, Chloe watched and listened with an expression of carefree joy on her face.

And Beca? Honestly, she found all of it a little bit boring, but then she got to spend the time watching Chloe be all happy and bubbly. The best part was, Chloe was so engrossed in the exhibit that she wouldn’t notice Beca staring at her with a stupid grin on her face, so she wouldn’t think Beca was a creep. Chloe was happy, and seeing Chloe happy made Beca happy. It was a win-win situation, really.

By the time they had arrived at the end, where the famed drink taste-testing area was, Chloe was jumping up and down in excitement. “Oh! This place is so big!” she said, grabbing Beca by the wrist and dragging her around.

“There’s probably so much sugar in these drinks,” Beca mumbled as Chloe grabbed a tiny plastic cup from the dispenser. “Don’t drink too many. I worry for your sanity.”

“I’ll be fine, probably. Maybe,” said Chloe, shrugging. “Oh gods, this one is so sweet. Try it, Beca.”

“I’ll take a pass, thanks.”

And of course, when Chloe had decided they had spent enough time in the World of Coca-Cola, Beca was almost literally having to completely support a giggling Chloe towards the gift shop.

“Man, you’re so heavy,” Beca said as Chloe leaned heavily into her side. “Oi! Calm down, I’m not a crutch. I’m smaller than you, remember? If you fall over you’ll probably squish me to death.”

“Sorry!” said Chloe. “I think I might have had too much sugar.”

“You think,” Beca repeated sarcastically.

Chloe buried her face into Beca’s neck playfully. Beca was able to force herself out of her surprise and stupor just long enough to see something glint from the line of Coke bottles parading along the ceiling.

“Chloe,” said Beca, trying to ignore how fast her heartbeat was with Chloe pressed so close against her. She patted Chloe’s back awkwardly. “Hey, Chloe.”

“Yes?”

“Do you think that…That thing. Over there. It’s shiny and bronze. Maybe it’s the thing.”

“Huh?” Chloe turned to look at where Beca was pointing. “What are you talking about?”

“Over up on the conveyor belt. Do you see it? One of those bottles doesn’t have Coke in it. Instead there’s a little bronze thing at the bottom. Do you think it could be –”

“The compass?”

“Yeah.”

Chloe blinked. “Why is the compass in the World of Coke?”

“Beats me. But hey, it’s here, so it makes our lives easier,” said Beca.

Chloe frowned. “Too easy, more like. Well, go get it down. Maybe it really is the compass.”

So Beca tried to levitate the bottle with the shiny bronze thing in it down from where it was hanging from the conveyor belt. Except the bottle was held fast to its clip and Beca was scared that if she tugged any harder, the entire belt would come crashing down.

“Dammit,” said Beca. “It’s not coming off. It feels like I’m going to snap the whole thing.”

The bottle was moving closer and closer to the hole in the wall, where the Coke would be heading into some secret interior area. They didn’t have much time to get it down.

Suddenly an arrow flew past Beca and hit the top of the empty glass bottle, where it cracked and fell to the ground.

Beca’s eyes widened as she spun around to look at Chloe, who wasn’t even holding a bow. “Dude! Did you just do that?”

Chloe shrugged. “I was feeling desperate. Now grab the thing and go before security people come.”

 “But – how did you – you’re not even holding your bow…”

Chloe pointed behind her at her backpack. “I can magically fold it in half. So it fits in here.”

“What??”

“Come on, weirdo, let’s go get us a compass!”

The glass bottle had splintered into a million pieces on the floor when they approached. For some reason, no one seemed fazed by the incident. Maybe Coke bottles routinely fell from the conveyor belt here. Beca glanced nervously around her as she approached the mess and spotted two employees heading towards them, holding a dust pan and looking bored.

She could see the little bronze compass from where she was standing and darted forwards to grab it, shaking off the glass shards from its surface. “Looks like a compass to me,” she told Chloe. “That was easy. Let’s head out of here.”

Obviously their intention was to head straight back onto the streets and find Demeter immediately so they could fix the tracker and finish the stupid quest, but Chloe, who was still up in the clouds from the insane amount of Coca-Cola drinks she’d ingested earlier, forced Beca to stop at the gift shop, which was right next to the drink place.

“Ten minutes. Six hundred seconds and then we’re out of here,” Beca said right before Chloe grabbed her by the wrist and started leading her around.

At one point Chloe looked like she really wanted a giant stuffed polar bear.

“I’ll buy it for you,” Beca offered. “If it’ll make you stop making that sickeningly adorable puppy face.”

“No, it’s fine,” Chloe said quickly, after checking the price tag. “It’s too expensive. And it’d be inconvenient to lug it around with us across the United States.”

They did end up buying a mini keychain-sized Coca-Cola polar bear, though, as well as something else.

“Let’s get something small together,” Chloe said brightly. “You know, to commemorate our amazing adventure and struggles here to get the magical Cerberus compass.”

“Like what?” Beca asked skeptically.

“Like…I dunno, this?” Chloe pulled a wristband from out of a box on the nearby shelf and showed it to Beca. It was red with the words “The World of Coca-Cola” written in white across it. “Something simple. And we can both get one.”

“Uh, sure,” said Beca, allowing Chloe to slip one onto her wrist after putting one on herself. It was worth it to see Chloe grinning like a child in a candy shop, holding their wrists out to compare their matching wristbands.

So they wasted ten dollars in the gift shop, whatever.

Beca finally managed to drag Chloe away from the shop and they stepped out of the place, basking in the late afternoon sunlight. The bronze compass was resting safely in Beca’s pants pocket. She was itching to find Demeter again and breathed a huge sigh of relief when they successfully made it out of the World of Coca-Cola without any commotion.

But ten seconds later there was a huge crash.

Beca groaned.

“I knew that was too easy,” Chloe said, frustrated, reaching for the bow stashed away in her backpack. “No way the thief would have just hid the compass in plain sight, and then let us waltz off with it.”

“Oh bother,” agreed Beca, pulling out her sword while people around her screamed and ran. They’d just fought the Colchian dragon a couple hours ago. Couldn’t they catch a break?

Chloe cursed in Ancient Greek. After a bit of struggle translating in her head, Beca figured she had said something along the lines of “Poseidon’s smelly underpants.”

“Wow, I actually recognize the monster this time,” Beca said with false happiness as the beast rounded the corner and settled its eyes on Beca and Chloe.

Or rather, its nine pairs of eyes.

“I actually remember how to kill it, too,” Beca said when the monster didn’t move, just stood there glaring at them. “You have to cut off its heads and then burn the stumps so they don’t regrow back. Luckily for us, we don’t have any fire.”

Then they were both running as fast as they could away from the Hydra.

At least the thing was slow, so they were able to put a good bit of distance between themselves and the Hydra to recuperate and think up a battle plan.

“What do we do?” asked Beca breathlessly. The two of them were taking shelter behind a tree while the Hydra stomped relentlessly towards them. They had thirty seconds, tops, before they had to continue running.

Chloe shrugged. “Can you summon fire?”

“No? I don’t think so?” Beca concentrated on her hands, trying to set them on fire. Nothing happened. “Yeah, I can’t. Got a plan B?”

“Wait, do that again.”

“What?”

“Whatever you just tried to do. Do it again.”

Then one of the Hydra heads yelled in their faces and tried to spit poison all over them, and they dodged away in different directions.

The Hydra chose to chase after Beca. After all, she was the one with the compass.

Six of the heads backed her up into a brick wall, the side of a building, and trapped her. All nine of them stared at her menacingly. She could _feel_ the poison in the monster’s breath. It was already making her woozy. She tried to raise her sword higher, but the Hydra didn’t seem threatened by the blade. Clearly it knew that if Beca tried to slice a head off, two more would just regrow back.

One of the heads went in, aiming to stab Beca in the stomach, but she jumped up and planted both feet on its neck, stomping it into the ground. The two heads right next to the head in the center hissed in pain and tried to breathe poison onto her. She slapped the one on the left away with the flat of her sword and grabbed the one on the right by the jaw, ignoring the way her hand burned when it came into contact with the Hydra’s breath. When the left head as well as a couple others came converging on her, she swung the head she was holding onto them and jumped onto the Hydra’s back, sliding down its slimy behind onto the sidewalk below. As she turned around to the roar of the frustrated Hydra, she slammed it against the wall with her telekinesis just for good measure, hoping she’d caused at least a couple headaches.

Chloe was right next to her in seconds. “What happened to your hand?” she asked, alarmed.

“Stupid poison,” Beca responded, wincing slightly when she tried to wipe the Hydra slobber off her right hand. “At least I got out of that death trap alive.”

“Do your little fire summon thing again,” Chloe said worriedly.

“Why?”

“Because when you concentrated, your hands started glowing again. They do that a lot. Maybe if you tried harder, it could become something bigger?”

“Well, I’ve only got one good hand right now.” But Beca tried to do the concentrating thing again. Sure enough, glowing hands.

“Wow, this is so helpful to us,” Beca said sarcastically, staring down at her hand. “What do you want me to do, slap its neck after we slice off the heads?”

Chloe sighed. “Try harder. I’ll keep it busy!” And with that, she spun around and nailed an arrow straight to the Hydra’s chest, effectively sending it stumbling back and howling in pain.

Beca tried harder. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to be getting at besides making her hand glow brighter, which honestly made her feel kind of pathetic. Here Chloe was nimbly dodging the Hydra’s vicious attacks, just so Beca could figure out how to use her hand as a flashlight.

But then two of the Hydra’s heads slammed into Chloe, sending her falling to the ground. “No!” Beca yelled automatically, racing forwards and putting herself in between Chloe and the Hydra just as it lunged again. Beca bashed the butt of her sword as hard as she could against the closest head’s eye, while simultaneously trying to drive the entire monster back with her telekinesis.

In broad daylight, trying to control nine heads and a fat body at once was seriously taking a toll on her mind.

She couldn’t keep on going at all. Chloe was sitting up now, but she appeared to be really dizzy, having gotten a face full of poison. Her backpack was lying on the ground a few feet away and she seemed to be trying to pull something out of it.

Just when Beca was ready to give up and accept defeat, she got a new surge of energy. It was similar to the burst she’d felt right before she killed the Colchian dragon, but this time it felt more…godly. Her hand felt like it was on fire now.

A bright white ball of energy appeared in her left hand, crackling with power. She heard a woman’s voice in her head say, _Just this once. You still have so much more to do._

Beca stepped forward, gripping her sword in her bad hand as tightly as she could manage without too much pain, and sliced three of the Hydra’s heads off in one swing. Before they could grow back she threw her little ball of energy, where it exploded on impact with the severed necks.

Chloe was apparently well enough to get up again and took out two more heads in quick succession with well-placed arrow shots. In no time Beca had summoned another weird ball of light and chucked it at the Hydra, successfully burning two more stumps.

Beca tossed Chloe her sword since the hand she’d been using to hold it was actually causing her considerable pain at that point. Teaming up together, they managed to make quick work of the Hydra. Chloe stepped in and slashed a head off, Beca blew it up with a ball of energy. Soon, all nine heads were lying motionless on the ground. The body of the Hydra stood still for a second, and then tumbled backwards. Everything began to hiss and sink into the ground slowly.

Both Beca and Chloe were breathing heavily. And just like that, all of the energy Beca had been gifted with suddenly disappeared. The full brunt of how much stress she’d put her body and mind through hit her like a freight train, and she fell to her knees.

Like always, Chloe was by her side in an instant. “Oh no, Beca!” she said, reaching for her backpack to get some ambrosia. “Why do you keep pushing your limits like this?”

“It wasn’t me,” Beca said wearily. “There was someone. In my head. I got an energy rush, that’s why I could summon stuff from my hands. I don’t think I could do it again right now even if I wasn’t dying in pain.”

Just for good measure, she held out her hands, palms facing up, and tried to do it again. Nothing happened. One hand remained glow-free, while the other looked like it’d been dunked in a vat of flesh-eating sludge.

Chloe grabbed Beca’s bad hand immediately and started fixing it up. After washing it out with nectar she wrapped bandages around it. “Good thing I’m left-handed,” Beca said casually, watching Chloe fix up her wounds.

“Good thing I can heal your injuries,” Chloe retorted. “Five more minutes and you might not even have had a right hand anymore.”

“Haha,” Beca said nervously.

Chloe stepped back and helped Beca stand up again. “You still have the compass?”

Beca patted her pocket and felt the lump was still there. “Yep,” she said. “How about we leave this area before the police or another monster comes strolling by?”

“That sounds like a great idea.”

They made it back to their hotel room as the sun was beginning to set, because they were a ways off from it and both of them misread the maps at least twice each on their journey back. As soon as Chloe unlocked the door to their room Beca stumbled forward and collapsed onto her bed, dead tired.

“Two days into the quest and I’ve already had enough excitement for a lifetime,” Beca said into her pillow.

“It’s good training, though,” said Chloe.

Beca groaned. So did her stomach.

“Hungry?” Chloe asked.

“I don’t want to go outside again. Outside is where the monsters are at.”

“There’s a fast food place right across the street from here.”

“No.”

Chloe sighed, but she was looking at Beca with an amused smile. “Fine, I’ll go order something and bring it back here. Any preferences?”

“Just get me whatever.”

“Okay. Be back in like fifteen minutes.”

Fifteen minutes later and both Beca and Chloe were sitting on Beca’s bed, facing each other with a pile of junk food lying in between them. They ate their way slowly through all the fries and stuff, and when they finished, Chloe threw all trash away and bounded back onto Beca’s bed.

Both of them were completely exhausted from the day’s adventures. “Do you want to try and find Demeter now?”

Beca glanced out the window of their room out into the dark sky and whined, flopping back onto the bed. “It’s too late now. Can we go tomorrow? I think slaying two dragons in the time span of like, seven hours should warrant a nice break.”

“Okay,” Chloe conceded. “What do you want to do right now?”

Beca sleepily opened her arms wide and pouted when Chloe didn’t move. “Come over here,” she said. “How about…you tell me more funny stories about your friends at Camp Half-Blood?”

Chloe laughed and shifted so that she was leaning against Beca’s pillows, and Beca immediately moved to lean on her shoulder. Beca figured that if she’d been less tired, she would have been more reserved about being so touchy-feely with Chloe, but she’d nearly died like two hundred times that day alone, and she wanted some comfort.

“Okay, then,” Chloe said, lifting her arm so Beca could snuggle under it before setting it back down. “Let’s see…have I told you about the time Stacie snuck a real, living fish into Aubrey’s bunk, and Aubrey retaliated the next day by stealing Stacie’s laundry and hanging it at the top of the lava climbing wall?”

Beca was already grinning widely. “No you haven’t, what happened?”

So Chloe launched into the story, and they both laughed over how stupid their friends were. After she was done, she told more stories, and more, until Beca fell into a blissful sleep to the sound of Chloe’s voice and Chloe playing gently with her injured, bandaged hand.

Chloe ended up falling asleep in the same position as well. Screw the other bed.


	8. Transcontinental Train Ride

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> @people who comment: I SEE YOU and I read all your comments with many happiness in my heart. especially the people who comment more than once, you guys rock! I would respond to every one but I don't know how to human interaction very well so, heh.
> 
> anyways

Beca woke up the next day on Friday morning hugged closely to Chloe. She tried to stifle her yawn and strained not to stretch, because she didn’t want to wake Chloe up. But her movements caused Chloe to shift anyway. Beca looked up, and to her surprise, found Chloe staring down at her contentedly, already wide awake.

“Dude.” Beca buried her face into Chloe’s side. “How long have you just been lying there looking at me?”

“Sorry. You look adorable when you’re asleep.” Beca could hear the smile in Chloe’s voice, and she sighed. “Besides, you were basically attached to me. I couldn’t get out of your grip even if I wanted to.”

“Yeah okay, I’m gonna go wash. I’m still gross from yesterday. Here,” Beca said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out the little round compass. Its surface was a gleaming bronze, with a single white needle spinning around in the center. At the top was an arrow pointing outward labeled “To Cerberus.”

Beca squinted at the compass and tried to shift it until the white needle matched up to the arrow, but the needle only spun wildly in circles.

Chloe leaned forward to look at the compass lying on Beca’s palm. “I guess we need the rest of the tracker for it to work.”

“Yeah,” said Beca.

“Okay, hurry up and get ready. It’s almost nine-thirty. Let’s find Demeter quick and then head out to search for Cerberus.”

Beca tossed Chloe the compass. “Hold this for me. I call showering first.”

Half an hour later and Beca was ready, dressed in her last set of clean clothes, backpack slung over her shoulder and waiting for Chloe to finish up tidying herself. Chloe took one last look at herself in the mirror, then stepped out of the bathroom, smiling when her gaze met Beca’s. “Ready to go?” she asked, scanning the room to check and see if they’d left anything behind.

“Possibly,” replied Beca, flipping the compass in her left hand over and over again, like a coin. Her right hand was still recovering from the Hydra poison. Chloe had changed the bandages earlier, and the purple streaks were starting to fade away. “Let’s head out, then.”

 They checked out at the front desk and left the hotel without a second glance. Chloe held Beca’s right hand in her left as they walked down the streets.

“Why are we doing this so early in the morning?” Beca asked, glancing pointedly down at their hands.

“I’m protecting your wounds from the elements,” Chloe responded, grinning.

Beca rolled her eyes, but made no move to let go.

Somehow, with some help from random strangers passing by, Beca and Chloe successfully made their way back to the organic salad shop from the day before. They entered and found Demeter sitting there at a table in the corner, as regal and godly as ever. When Demeter caught sight of them in the doorway, she waved and motioned for them to come over.

“Hello, dears,” Demeter said as Beca settled into the seat across from her and Chloe next to Beca. “How was your day yesterday?”

“Brutal,” Beca said. “But we found your compass. Also found a Hydra, but thankfully it’s no longer alive.”

“Oh dear me, not the Hydra!” Demeter exclaimed. “I haven’t seen that one in almost a decade. I’m glad you were able to get out of the scrape alive, though.”

“Yeah,” Beca said, grimacing. She pulled the compass from her pocket and handed it to Demeter, who picked it up and inspected it.

“Well done,” she said amiably after a short while, waving her hand and plucking the small cube from yesterday out of the air when it appeared. She placed the compass in the imprint on the cube, where it fit snugly. “Now if I can fix this again…”

Three minutes of tinkering, shifting, and bright flashes of light later, they heard a loud click and the needle on the compass began to spin rapidly. Demeter set the tracker on the table where Beca and Chloe could see the face, and they watched as the needle gradually slowed down, and came to a stop pointing left.

Beca reached forward for the tracker and shifted it until the white needled matched up with the arrow marked “To Cerberus.”

Demeter nodded. “That way’s west,” she told Beca and Chloe.

“So Cerberus is probably still nearby the entrance to the Underworld in L.A.,” Chloe reasoned.

“Chloe, literally the entirety of the United States is to our west at the moment.”

“Oh yeah,” said Chloe sheepishly.

Demeter smiled at the two of them. “There’s five lights at the bottom,” she explained. “Each one lit corresponds to the amount of distance you have left to travel. Right now, all five are on, so that means Cerberus is likely on the opposite end of America. As you get closer, each light should shut off one by one.”

“Ha,” said Chloe, taking the tracker from the table and shoving Beca lightly with her shoulder. “So he _is_ close to L.A.”

“Yeah, okay, whatever,” said Beca, straining to hold back a laugh at Chloe’s silly triumphant expression.

“Okay, then,” said Demeter. “My work here is done, then.”

“Thank you so much for your help, Lady Demeter,” Chloe said earnestly.

“You’re most welcome, Chloe,” said Demeter. “I wish you two the best of luck on your quest.” Then she stood up and disappeared in a flash of green light.

“Alright, one giant three-headed dog tracker successfully obtained. What do we do now?” asked Beca.

“Let’s get us a train ride to L.A.,” responded Chloe.

Beca made a face. “That’s going to cost a ton of money. Can we take a plane instead?”

“Um, I’m not sure planes are the greatest idea,” said Chloe. “Whenever there’s tension among the gods like there is right now, Zeus gets really…uh, paranoid when it comes to demigods. He might blow us out of the sky.”

“Oh,” said Beca. “That sucks.”

“Besides, you can’t stop a plane in midflight. If we take a train to L.A. there’ll probably be multiple rest stops, so we can get off as soon as the tracker hits zero.”

“Good point. Lead the way, then.”

They grabbed something simple to eat on their way back to the Atlanta Amtrak station.

“Oh gods,” Beca groaned, slamming her forehead onto the ticket purchaser near the entrance.

“Hey, don’t do that.” Chloe yanked Beca back by her shirt and rested her head on Beca’s shoulder to get a good look at the screen. “What’s the matter?”

“It’s five hundred dollars. Five hundred and fifty bucks. We can’t afford this.”

Chloe frowned. “I think I might have enough for that.” She pulled out her wallet from her backpack and began counting her money. “Oh no. I’ve only got five hundred and twelve.”

Beca counted her own money. “I have seventy. Just _barely_ seventy. This train ride is going to cost us the rest of our cash. We’ll be able to buy like, three meals after this.”

“Hopefully, if all goes to plan, we won’t need to pay for anything else,” said Chloe uneasily.

“And how do you propose we make it back to New York after all of this is over?”

“I dunno! We can’t go by plane, it’s not worth the risk of getting blasted to bits. Besides, based on distance a ticket probably costs two hundred each, and after we get to L.A. we’ll have to leave anyways to find Cerberus. We’ll be broke either way.”

Beca sighed, frustrated. “Whatever. There’s no other choice. I’m buying the Amtrak tickets.”

They bought two for a ride to Los Angeles, with rest stops in every single state between Georgia and California. The train would be departing from the station at eight at night.

It was still a little bit before noon, and Beca wanted to spend the remaining nine or so hours moping around, but Chloe refused to remain in such low spirits. “C’mon, Beca,” she said, trying to cheer her up, “we’re almost done with the quest! All we have to do is follow the tracker to Cerberus, and then we get him to the Underworld. I can already smell the strawberries from the fields at Camp Half-Blood again.”

Beca groaned. “I can’t believe today is only the third day since we left camp. It feels like it’s been forever.”

Their walking led them to the Georgia Aquarium. Chloe looked like she really, really wanted to go in.

“We have to save our money for food,” Beca said in a strained voice, because Chloe was looking at her with the puppy dog eyes. “Chloe, the admission tickets are literally forty bucks a piece. We barely have _thirty_.”

But ten seconds after walking away from the massive building, Beca gave up and grabbed Chloe by the wrist, leading her back to the ticket line. Chloe looked taken aback.

“Beca…what are you–”

“No,” said Beca. “I got this. I think.”

She had no idea why she did it. She’d just been swamped with an overwhelming desire to get Chloe what she wanted, to see her face light up the way it did yesterday in the World of Coca-Cola.

It should have freaked Beca out, how much she cared, but she was currently too busy panicking about why she thought she’d be able to buy two tickets that cost a total of eighty dollars with only thirty to begin with.

It was too late now.

“That’ll be $85.49,” said the pretty young lady at the counter.

Beca reached into her pocket and pulled out a handful of golden drachmas.

The lady at the counter raised her eyebrow as Beca deliberately stacked them on top of each other and slid them slowly through the gap in the window, trying very hard to ignore how confused Chloe looked beside her.

The lady stared at her some more.

Then, for a fraction of a second, her eyes flashed brilliantly green, and her entire body seemed to light up momentarily. She winked at Beca and took the money, counting it before stashing it away in a drawer below.

“Hope you enjoy your time here at the Georgia Aquarium,” the lady said, handing Beca the two tickets.

Beca scrambled away from the line as fast as she could, Chloe right behind her.

“What just happened? Was that a _nereid_ operating the ticket booth?” asked Chloe.

“What’s a nereid?”

“Sea nymph. I didn’t even know…what’s one doing out in a city like this?”

“I have no clue,” said Beca. She shoved a ticket into Chloe’s hands. “But here you go. You’re welcome.”

They went into the aquarium.

And it was totally worth the trouble.

Chloe went through all of the sections with a look of awe on her face. More often than not Beca would turn around to look at the different kinds of people and families who had also come to visit, and when she turned back, Chloe would have her face pressed up against another glass tank thirty feet away, following the path of the fish excitedly with her eyes.

How was this kid even eighteen?

Several times Beca had to drag Chloe away from an exhibit because there was so much more to see in the aquarium. They walked through the place hand-in-hand, Chloe smiling widely because she was having so much fun, and Beca grinning like an idiot because Chloe was happy, so of course she was happy too.

They also discovered that there were a ton of nereids who worked at the aquarium, including the food court. So Beca managed to get away with paying for their lunch in drachmas again, earning her another wink from the sea nymph cashier.

Currently, Chloe was engrossed in a giant tank filled with what seemed like millions of little fish of a multitude of types and colors, zipping around in the water as fast as their small fins would allow them to.

“They’re so cute,” said Chloe. “And there’s so many of them.”

“Yeah,” said Beca, who was standing next to Chloe.

“That one’s really cute.” Chloe was pointing at something inside the tank. “The bright pink one. It’s so tiny.”

Beca caught sight of the fish Chloe was talking about pretty easily enough. There weren’t that many that were vivid pink. And she didn’t know what made her do it, but she pressed her palm to the glass, carefully, and used her telekinesis to gently pull the fish towards where they were standing.

Chloe’s expression lit up instantly as Beca let go, but the fish remained where it was, swimming around the glass near Chloe’s face.

“Aw, look at it,” Chloe said. “He looks kinda like you.”

“Me?” Beca said, surprised. “How does a _fish_ look like _me_?”

“Look at his little mouth. He seems grumpy. And adorable. Like you,” Chloe said playfully.

Beca wanted to feel offended, but instead she laughed.

And the smile Chloe was giving her was making her insides feel like they were melting.

They stayed until the aquarium kicked them out around six in the evening. That left them with more than enough time to buy a cheap dinner and head to the Amtrak station to catch their ride to L.A., this time without a bunch of evil hungry birds pecking at their faces.

Before Beca even knew it, eight o’clock was rolling around and she and Chloe were boarding the train they’d be spending the next three days of their life on. And then the whistle was sounding, and the train was moving, and they were moving farther and farther away from Atlanta.

“Good-bye, Georgia,” said Chloe, resting her head on Beca’s shoulder.

“Yep,” said Beca, gazing out the window, watching the buildings flash by in the night. “And hello, California.”

 

…

 

The first night, Chloe fell asleep on top of Beca.

Beca woke up the next day crushed under a heavy Chloe, her left arm numb. It was pretty uncomfortable sitting like that, with one leg on the seat and one twisted under her and Chloe leaning on her front.

But she looked so peaceful and was clearly still deep in sleep. So Beca sucked it up and instead watched as Chloe’s chest rose and fell with each breath, over and over. It was strangely calming.

She didn’t even realize she was staring until Chloe said, “Now who’s the one doing the creepy watching?”

“Since when did you wake up?”

“Just now,” said Chloe, yawning and stretching a little bit.

“Good, then get off of me,” Beca said with fake seriousness. “My arm’s dying.”

“Oops.” Chloe pulled herself back into a sitting position and stretched for real this time, making a point to jab her fist into Beca’s face. Beca retaliated by kissing Chloe’s pinky knuckle, which was _not_ what she had originally been planning on doing. She would’ve felt embarrassed if it weren’t for Chloe’s stupid little happy smile.

“So. Exciting day ahead,” Beca commented as casually as she could manage, mostly because her face would probably catch on fire if Chloe kept looking at her like that.

“Yeah. I dunno, though, Beca, I could probably make it _very_ exciting for you, if you know what I mean,” Chloe replied even more casually.

“Dude! You can’t just say things like that out loud! That’s gross!”

“Who said anything about doing gross things? You have such a dirty mind.”

Beca’s face was completely red. “Shut up!” she said defensively.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Chloe looked like she was inspecting her fingernails, but Beca caught her shooting amused glances at her out of the corner of her eye.

“You’re mean,” sniffed Beca.

About half an hour passed before Beca’s ADHD finally got the better of her. She shifted until her legs were in Chloe’s lap. Then, five minutes later, her head was in Chloe’s lap. Five more and then she was just completely draped across Chloe’s lap.

She probably should have been minding her own personal space, but Chloe’s lap was so _comfy_.

The only thing Chloe had to offer was a teasing “Settled in yet?” when Beca had basically become Chloe’s personal blanket after shifting for the umpteenth time.

“I’m bored,” Beca responded.

“Okay, let’s play a game, then,” said Chloe, nodding towards the window. “Say ‘cloud’ for every cloud you see.”

Beca squinted at Chloe, but then turned outside, and said, “Cloud, cloud, cloud…um…and cloud.”

“Okay. How about, say ‘cow’ for every cow you see.”

The train had just passed by a herd, and Beca rattled off almost twenty ‘cow’s before turning back to Chloe.

“Nice. Now say ‘tree’ for every tree that you see.”

They were barreling through the woods, for heaven’s sake.

“Oh come on! I hate you,” Beca protested, raining fake punches down on Chloe, who just laughed and held up her hands to shield herself from Beca’s fists. “That was the stupidest game I’ve ever played.”

“It was funny,” Chloe said, grinning.

“No it wasn’t. You’re just mean,” said Beca.

A few minutes later, Chloe turned around to the businessman seated behind her and struck up a conversation with him. She turned back around shortly after with a small stack of notebook paper and a pen in her hands. “Present from the nice guy behind us!” she told Beca excitedly.

They spent the rest of the day playing stupid games with the paper, starting out with simple things like tic-tac-toe and hangman. By the time afternoon was rolling around, Beca had the pen in her hand, her eyes squeezed shut as Chloe tried to tell her how to draw something without looking.

“Put a triangle on top of the rectangle,” Chloe said.

“Okay.”

“I said triangle, not pentagon.”

“I’m pretty sure I drew a triangle?”

“That looks more like a scribble than it does a triangle!”

“Come on, my drawing skills are terrible enough as is, let alone trying to sketch something with my eyes closed!”

“How hard can it be to draw a shape with three sides?”

Beca laughed and gave up, opening her eyes to look down at the mess of scribbles on the piece of paper. “Um, what was this supposed to be?”

“A snowman,” said Chloe, looking down disapprovingly at Beca’s drawing.

“Why did you need me to draw a triangle for a snowman? And a rectangle?”

Chloe shrugged.

“You suck,” Beca said, throwing a clean sheet of paper in Chloe’s face. “Now it’s your turn.”

Before long, the entire day had passed like that, only pausing when they got up to get cheap meals in the Café car. They both tried to get the least expensive food possible without actually having to sacrifice taste, because they were both well aware of how little money they had remaining.

But at least they had fun scribbling madly away on the notebook paper until it got so dark out that they couldn’t see anything they wrote anymore. Through her increasingly drooping eyelids, Beca noticed that Chloe folded up the used paper neatly and tuck it into her backpack.

When the stars were shining in the black sky above them, Chloe mumbled, “Good night,” and passed out pretty soon after that.

The second night, Beca fell asleep on top of Chloe.

 

…

 

“Twenty-four more hours,” Chloe said around seven o’clock in the evening on the second day, squirming in her seat excitedly.

“That’s still an entire day,” Beca whined. “If I have to sit for much longer my butt is going to melt.”

“Gross,” said Chloe.

Beca threw the paper airplane she’d just finished making at Chloe.

Chloe pulled out the little tracker from her pocket and gazed at the compass face. The white needle was still matched up fairly accurately to the “To Cerberus” arrow, pointing straight ahead of them. Now though, two of the five lights had shut off, leaving three remaining.

“We’re getting closer,” said Chloe happily.

“Where are we, exactly?” asked Beca.

“The train stopped at Dallas a couple hours ago, so I guess we’re somewhere in western Texas at the moment,” said Chloe.

Beca sighed and gazed out the window again. There were no signs of civilization in sight. It was all mostly plains with brownish shrubs in the front and rolling hills in the back.

Suddenly she caught sight of a bunch of people on horses galloping parallel to the train, gradually catching up with it in terms of speed. Then she realized they weren’t people on horses, they were centaurs.

“Hey,” said Beca, surprised, nudging Chloe on the shoulder. “Look out there.”

Chloe leaned over to look out the window, catching sight of the centaurs immediately. They were now slowly but surely gaining speed and moving faster than the train. “Huh. Centaurs, that’s cool.”

Other people on the train were also stirring and looking outside the windows with interest. One little kid shouted, “Look, ma! Horses!”

Some people were getting cameras out and snapping pictures, which Beca found kind of weird. She wondered vaguely what they saw through their eyes.

Beca watched as the centaurs put on an extra burst of speed, and the smallest one in the back, a young boy, was now in line with her window view. He turned and locked eyes with Beca. She figured she should wave, but before she could, she saw the fear in his wide eyes, the look of horror on his face.

“Lion!” the same little kid from earlier screamed suddenly.

Sure enough, a massive lion with shining golden fur pounced straight into the middle of the small herd of centaurs, causing them to scatter wildly in panic. Beca watched intently as the people around her on the train shouted and yelled.

“Oh my gods,” said Chloe softly. All of the centaurs had escaped unscathed except for the young boy who had caught Beca’s eye earlier. He was crumpled on the ground, crushed under the weight of the lion that was the size of a Hummer.

The scene whipped past her as the train shot by, but Beca looked back just long enough to see the lion nudge the limp centaur’s body a few times. It seemed disappointed with how small its catch was, and continued bounding forwards, easily catching up to the other centaurs in a matter of seconds.

But eventually the centaurs outran the lion, and the people on the train were beginning to grow bored of the scene outside. Beca wished that the lion would just give up now that all the centaurs were well out of range. She couldn’t get the image of the little centaur out of her mind, how terrified he looked before he went down.

Unluckily for the passengers on the train, the lion did not give up.

It was especially unlucky for Beca and Chloe.

Because the lion turned its head, saw the train, and most importantly, saw Beca, a demigod, sitting on the train.

“No, no, no, _no_ ,” said Beca insistently, scrambling backwards in her seat and bumping into Chloe. “It saw me. The lion saw me. Please tell me he doesn’t eat humans.”

“That’s the Nemean lion, Beca,” said Chloe in a small voice, hugging Beca tightly. Beca couldn’t tell if she was doing it to protect Beca or to reassure herself. “Its favorite food is demigod.”

“We were _so_ close,” Beca said. She was starting to panic. There was nowhere to run. They were stuck in a train in the middle of almost-desert Texas with a hungry-looking lion staring at them. “Damn monsters can’t leave us alone at all. Chloe, why?”

“This is not good,” Chloe agreed. “You remember what the myths said about the Nemean lion?”

“Are you seriously trying to quiz me on my Greek knowledge right now?”

“Yes.”

Beca sighed. “Hercules killed it for his first labor, didn’t he?”

“And how’d he do it?”

“I dunno, bashed its head in with a sword? What else can you do?”

“No, he did not bash the Nemean lion with his sword,” said Chloe, “because its fur is so thick and tough, you can’t injure it with any weapons, mortal or Celestial bronze.”

“Oh hell,” said Beca, now panicking even more.

Just then the lion charged for the train and people screamed.

The train thankfully remained moving, but the ceiling above where Beca and Chloe were sitting had caved in under the lion’s pounce. She struggled to get up with everyone out of their seats and trying to flee the cramped car, pulling out her sword in the process.

“What are you doing?” shouted Chloe over the turmoil.

“Does it look like I know?” Beca yelled back, shrugging helplessly as debris rained down around them. The Nemean lion’s claws sank into the metal of the train and ripped the top apart with a sickening screeching sound.

Alarms were sounding up and down the train, which was slowing down to a halt in its emergency procedure. “No!” Beca almost screamed. “Why would you stop the train now? Keep it going! Someone tell them to keep it going!”

By then the lion had made a big enough dent in the train to stick its head in and attempt to chomp off Beca’s head. The passengers around her screamed as the windows shattered under its claws and showered them with glass. With all her focus, Beca managed to stop most of the glass in midair, letting the shards fall to the ground around her. “Go away, you stupid beast!” she shouted, throwing her hand forward and forcibly knocking the lion off the train with her telekinesis.

The Nemean lion momentarily slipped and crashed to the ground outside on its back. However, seconds later it had gotten up, shaken itself, roared at the sky, roared at the train, and then caught up to Beca and the giant bite it had taken out of the Amtrak car easily.

It tried to break through the metal again, its claws grabbing wildly for Beca. Chloe tried shooting a few arrows at it. Beca swung at it with her sword. Both attacks just bounced harmlessly off its stupid invincible pelt. Beca shoved the lion back off the train again, trying to throw it across the plains, but it came back soon enough again, now looking thoroughly frustrated that its delicious dinner was proving hard to catch.

The third time, the Nemean lion threw all its weight into the side of the car, and it went careening off the tracks. The train’s center toppled over, sending everyone in the car flying to the left, throwing them against the wall.

Before Beca could regain her grip on what was happening around her, she felt the lion’s claws attach themselves to her shirt and drag her forwards, flinging her out of the gaping hole in the side of the train. She heard Chloe crying out, right before Beca’s head hit against the jagged edge of a scrap of metal as she was dragged out and hit the ground.

She desperately fought the stars threatening to blacken her vision and scrambled weakly to her feet, holding her useless sword out in front of her and coming face-to-face with the Nemean lion in its full glory.

Beca tried to summon one of those magical power balls she’d used against the Hydra, but without an extra burst of energy, she couldn’t find the strength to. At this point she couldn’t even make her hands glow. The lion lunged at her and she tried to blow him off using telekinesis, but her head was still throbbing with pain and dizziness from her bang against the sharp metal piece of train earlier.

The lion knocked Beca with its front paw so hard she went flying back and crashed straight into the train, which had forcibly stopped due to the fact that several of the cars were knocked over.

Beca closed her eyes because the world around her was spinning wildly and she felt like she was going to puke. Something grabbed at her and it took her a while to realize that it was Chloe, not the Nemean lion, it was Chloe coming to the rescue.

“We have to run,” Chloe said urgently to Beca. “We can’t kill that thing, Hercules strangled it with his bare hands till the lion died and neither of us have that kind of strength.”

“I could probably…try to…telekinesis…” Beca said.

There was a crash very close to them. Chloe scooped Beca up in her arms and climbed nimbly over the wreckage of the train seconds before the lion crashed into the very spot they’d been standing in.

“You don’t look like you’re in any shape to do anything with your powers,” Chloe insisted. “You’ve done enough. We have to run, now.”

“There are…people on the train…”

“It’s okay, they’ll be fine! It’s us the lion is after.”

“We can’t just leave them here…in the middle of nowhere.”

“Beca!”

Beca wrenched herself out of Chloe’s grip. She could hear people still screaming and there was, distinctly, a little girl crying and sobbing for help. It just made her think of the young centaur from earlier who was lying dead now, in the middle of nowhere. These people were in danger because of her and she had to at least try to get them to safety.

She staggered over towards the crumpled train car and lifted her hands in front of her.  Then she noticed someone had fallen out, a young man, and he was crushed under the weight of the train. He was wincing and yelling his throat hoarse.

She _had_ to get these people away from the lion.

So Beca used her telekinesis and forced the train back onto the track, tilting it upright again slowly and excruciatingly. It was extremely heavy and Beca almost didn’t have enough strength remaining to lift it back up.

Beca ran forwards and pulled the guy to his feet. “Can you walk?” she asked him.

“I can try,” he huffed, straining to pull himself back through the gaping hole in the side of the train. “Th-thank you, stranger.”

“Please don’t die,” Beca said quietly.

She turned back around to run back to Chloe and felt something clamp down onto her backpack.

It was the Nemean lion, its jaws locked onto Beca’s bag, slobbering all over her.

Beca felt like her heart stopped momentarily. She tried to squirm out of the lion’s grip, but it held fast, tossing her forward and back repeatedly.

In an act of desperation, Beca slid out of the straps of the backpack and, now freed, charged straight into Chloe. “Let’s go,” she said breathlessly, and they took off running as fast as they could. Beca kept her gaze trained on the ground, trying to ignore the way her head pounded and distorted her vision. She sneaked a glance behind her and saw the train was beginning to move again, now that it was back upright on the tracks. Her backpack was nowhere in sight. She assumed that the lion had eaten it. Scraps of fabric fell from its teeth.

Beca and Chloe had a hell of a time trying to outrun the Nemean lion, especially since Beca kept stumbling over her own feet and Chloe had to catch her before she hit the ground more than once. They scrambled up a couple hills and more or less slid down the other side. They made it into a tiny, very sparse forest of sorts at the bottom of a steep hill when the lion was close enough to take a swipe at Beca.

Something inside of Beca snapped. She spun around, furious, her hands clenched into fists. “Go away, you ugly monster! Leave us alone! Seriously!” She punched the air in front of her over and over, and the telekinesis obeyed her, slamming into the Nemean lion from all sides. The beast pulled back, startled and upset from the increasingly angry blows.

“Why can’t you. Just. Leave. Us. Alone!” Beca half-yelled, half-cried, punctuating each word with another telekinesis-punch. She could feel fire boiling in the pit of her stomach, forcing the lion back with the pure rage overflowing inside of her. She was so sick of everything. “Go away!”

A figure dashed across the plains to their left. The lion turned to inspect it, then turned back to Beca, who had stopped attacking it, and was just standing there, shaking. Then it bounded away towards the shape in the distance.

Beca fell to her knees. Chloe was beside her instantly.

“I hate this,” said Beca, who could feel tears threatening to spill from her eyes. “Why did stupid Hades have to blame me for this stupid theft and send me on this stupid quest where we keep coming within an inch of dying? I hate it. I hate it so much. I want it to stop. I didn’t sign up for this.”

“Beca…” said Chloe worriedly, her arms wrapped around Beca supportively. “It’s okay…we’ll make it through, we can do it –”

“How?” said Beca, her voice shaking. She stared at her hands. “How are we going to make it through?” She shot to her feet, ignoring the way the world spun when she did so. “We’re nearly half dead, I don’t have my backpack anymore, so I lost all my clothes and stuff. We’re stranded in the middle of Texas with no sign of humans anywhere nearby, my head feels like it’s going to explode, and we have sixteen days to find Cerberus and return him to the Underworld, with no food, no money, and no fucking clue what to do next.”


	9. Saved From the Brink of Death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here have a happy chapter because...no reasons...

Beca was wearing a set of clothes. The bandages on her right hand had been partially torn off earlier, but the poison was pretty much gone already. Her little red Coca-Cola wristband was hanging off her left wrist. The Celestial bronze sword, tucked carefully into cylinder mode, was stashed in her pants pocket.

Besides that, and a searing headache, she had nothing else.

Chloe had managed to escape with all her stuff still intact in her backpack, which contained her bow, a few clothes and basic toiletries, and their remaining dwindling supply of nectar and ambrosia.

No money. No food. No ride west. No one else in sight. The words swirled in Beca’s mind, making her feel increasingly more sick at their current predicament.

“We should probably find a place to stay low for a while,” said Chloe timidly, like she was afraid she’d piss Beca off even more than she was currently. The thought made Beca feel a little bad. “The lion might come back any moment.”

“Okay,” said Beca, her gaze trained on the ground in front of her. She could feel the anger slowly deflating out of her when Chloe tentatively reached out to put her hand on Beca’s shoulder. “You lead the way, then.”

Chloe helped Beca stumble deeper into the sparse woods of sorts they found themselves in. It wasn’t long before Beca’s head started throbbing again, reminding her painfully of how she’d hit her head on a chunk of metal when the lion had dragged her out of the train. She stumbled over her feet, and if it weren’t for Chloe reaching out and easing her into a sitting position, she would have tripped face-first into a tree.

“Sorry,” said Beca, trying to keep her gaze trained on Chloe hovering above her, but her face was swimming in and out of focus. “Head hurts pretty bad. Do you think you could fix it?”

“Yeah, gimme a sec,” said Chloe, dropping her backpack onto the ground and kneeling down in front of Beca. She wrapped one arm around the back of Beca’s shoulders to keep her from falling backwards, and put the other hand on the back of Beca’s head. “Ouch. It feels like you’ve got a concussion there. It’s okay, just stay still for a short while, I’ll make it better for you.”

Beca could feel the headache lessening slightly as Chloe worked her magical healing powers. It felt nice, sitting there on the brink of consciousness, cradled in Chloe’s strong, protective arms. They were in very close proximity to each other, and while Chloe was focused on getting rid of the injury, Beca had a full view of Chloe’s lips.

She reached up half-dazedly with her left hand to rest her thumb on Chloe’s bottom lip, and took it as a good sign when Chloe smiled and nudged her finger with a little kiss. “Hey, stay still,” she said gently. “More time for cuddling later. We need to get your head fixed.”

“But your face is so pretty,” Beca mumbled.

Chloe kissed Beca’s forehead before pulling back with a small smile. “Thanks, Beca,” she said, helping Beca shift so that she was leaning comfortably against a tree.

“This sucks,” said Beca once Chloe had settled down next to her.

“I know it does,” said Chloe.

“All of this is so stupid. Why can’t the gods figure out their own problems on their own? Why do they have to keep dragging us into their mess, make us do all the work? At least come down and give us a little help here. I’ve never even met my mom. She doesn’t have that many kids…does it really hurt to visit and talk for even ten minutes?”

“I know what you mean,” Chloe said softly. “I understand. It sucks, doesn’t it? It feels like we’re not worth our parents’ time. It’s okay. I still have you, and you still have me. You’ll always have me. Heroes don’t ever let each other down, not like the gods do.”

 “I don’t know where I’d be without you,” said Beca, who was beginning to nod off against Chloe’s shoulder. “I really…I really…”

Chloe held her breath, but Beca was asleep before she could finish her thought.

 

…

 

The next morning Beca woke up with the beginnings of a dry, parched throat. At least her head had stopped hurting, all thanks to Chloe, but if they didn’t find water soon, Beca was probably going to feel a lot worse.

“Chloe,” she said.

“Huh?”

“Chloe, wake up.”

“What’s wrong?” Chloe asked, blinking her eyes open to look at Beca, who squirmed out of her embrace.

“I’m really thirsty. Do you have water?”

Chloe looked in her backpack and frowned when she pulled out a half-filled bottle. “This is all I have left,” she said.

Beca took a few sips, then handed it back to Chloe. She made a face. “Wouldn’t it be awesome if I had the ability to summon any food or drink I wanted? Then we’d never go hungry. Or thirsty.”

Chloe laughed and swung her backpack over her shoulder after standing up and dusting herself off. “Come on, slowpoke,” she said, reaching out a hand to help Beca get up. “We need to get traveling.”

They spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon hiking away across the plains. Unfortunately they were unable to find the train tracks again. They’d been too focused on just trying to get away from the Nemean lion the day before that they hadn’t paid attention to where they were running. So instead, they just followed the tracker west, where the needle pointed straight ahead towards Cerberus.

Beca’s stomach growled against her will sometime around two o’clock in the afternoon, a painful reminder of the fact that she and Chloe had skipped three meals already, and if there weren’t any towns nearby, they would be skipping several more.

“Sorry,” she said, wincing when Chloe turned her concerned gaze on her. “Just a little hungry.”

“Can you keep going?” Chloe asked.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Beca insisted. “Let’s keep going. Can you tell me some happy stories?”

“Okay,” said Chloe, moving to slip her hand in Beca’s. The contact made Beca feel a little better. “Oh! You know who Donald is, right?”

“I believe I do,” said Beca.

“Well, he and Stacie are like partners in crime. I remember one week they thought it would be funny to sneak into random cabins at night and put an insane amount of makeup on people in their sleep.”

“What the heck.”

“I know, it was terrifying. And they’d wake up and it wouldn’t come off for the entire day. Aphrodite magic and all, you know? It was weird.”

“Creepy, more like.”

“That’s very true. People started sleeping with one eye open, wondering who the next victim would be.”

Beca laughed. “What a bunch of weirdoes,” she said.

“Yeah, I know, right?” said Chloe thoughtfully. “You know…sometimes I just feel like…some people take camp so seriously. Like a couple of the kids of Ares. They train nonstop every single day and are always itching to bust out their moves and slay monsters. I know Bumper can be a jerk sometimes, but at least he knows how to have fun. I guess it’s just people like him, and Stacie and Donald, they know the crappy life we’re guaranteed because we’re demigods, and they just try to make the most of it. Let loose and enjoy what they can while they can.”

“Huh.” Beca thought about Chloe’s words for a while. “That’s actually…that’s actually a pretty good way to look at things, really. Like…I should stop moping around about this quest. Since I get to hang out with you more. I mean like, I…actually do like spending time with you, even if it’s while getting our asses handed to us by monsters.”

Chloe smiled and pulled Beca closer to her as they walked, so that their shoulders brushed. “Good,” she said, “because I like spending time with you, too.”

And even though Beca was still hungry and thirsty and tired, and even though she was still stranded out somewhere in the middle of nowhere, she thought she wouldn’t mind if they stayed that way forever, her walking hand-in-hand with Chloe, just enjoying each other’s presence as the time ticked by.

Around four or five in the afternoon Beca noticed a slight dip in the terrain ahead of them, and a steady trickling noise hanging in the air. “Do you hear that?” she asked Chloe.

“Hear what?”

“It sounds like running water.”

Chloe listened. “Do you think…”

“A river?” Beca finished hopefully. “Over there, where there’s a little canyon of sorts.”

Without another word, Chloe was pulling Beca along, and they both stumbled as fast as they could towards the sudden drop ahead of them.

“It _is_ a river,” said Chloe in awe, when they were standing on the edge of the cliff, looking down at the wide stream of water peacefully running past below.

“Can you drink river water?” Beca asked.

“I don’t think that’s safe,” Chloe said. “And I don’t see how you plan on scaling these cliffs below us.”

“Come on, we’re demigods,” Beca scoffed. “Magic is the answer to everything.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say,” Chloe said, laughing, as she moved and sat down on the ground, her legs dangling off the edge.

Beca rolled her eyes but sat down next to Chloe, scooting closer and squeezing her hand tighter. “Wow, someone’s a daredevil,” she said shakily, sneaking a peek down at the water far below them.

“If I fall, I’m depending on you to catch me,” Chloe told her.

“Why are you assuming that I have enough arm muscle to lift you back up?”

“Telekinesis,” Chloe said simply.

“Wow, you got me there,” said Beca, turning back around with an exaggerated huff to gaze back down at the river.

After a while, Beca was aware of the fact that Chloe was staring at her. Well, at least her face was turned in her direction. When Beca went to look, she found out Chloe was actually squinting at something past her.

“What are you looking at?”

Chloe nodded off in the distance towards Beca’s left. “Is that a person?”

Beca turned in the direction that Chloe had indicated. There was a guy standing in the distance, staring at the river, a good couple hundred yards away. The figure wasn’t moving.

“Scarecrow?” Beca suggested.

Then the guy got down on his knees and crawled towards the edge of the cliffs.

“Not a scarecrow,” Beca amended.

They both stood up and crept closer to the person. He didn’t appear to notice as they approached, instead focused on reaching out as far as he could with one hand, like he was trying to grab at something dangling in midair above the river. He seemed young – around Beca and Chloe’s age.

Suddenly, without warning, he slipped and tumbled over the edge.

“Dude!” Beca shouted, letting go of Chloe’s hand and sprinting towards where the boy had gone down. She wasn’t far, and she managed to slide to the edge, crouch down, and reach over the edge just in time to pin the boy to the cliff face with her telekinesis before he could turn into a pancake on the narrow riverbank.

The boy looked up, his face full of shock, terror, and surprise. He grinned shamefully at Beca.

“Well? I can’t lift you all the way up by myself,” Beca yelled down at him. “Climb! I can help make it easier.”

By the time the boy had finally crawled his way back to the top, Beca was exhausted. The boy sat down heavily on the ground, his face completely red in embarrassment. “I’m so sorry,” he got out as soon as he could speak. “I didn’t mean to fall – well, of course I didn’t, but – thanks so much for saving me.”

“Just don’t do stupid things in the future, okay?” Beca said, allowing Chloe, who was standing above her, to help her get to her feet again. “Who are you, anyways?”

“My name’s Jordan,” said the boy earnestly. “What about you guys? I haven’t seen other people in this area in ages.”

“Um, I’m Beca, and my friend here is Chloe,” said Beca, jabbing her thumb at Chloe.

“How old are you? What are you doing out here alone?” Chloe asked.

“Me? I live here,” said Jordan. “I’m seventeen. I’ve got my own little house on the edge of this huge forest nearby. It’s like a ten minute walk. Wanna come visit?”

Beca and Chloe exchanged a skeptical glance.

“Oh come on, I never get company,” said Jordan. “You two don’t look in so good shape. Well, I guess if you’re on foot out here in the most random part of Texas, then you’re probably starving. Want some food? I’ve got tons.”

“Uh, okay,” said Beca, acutely aware of the gnawing in her stomach. She couldn’t just turn down free food. “Thanks…Jordan.”

“No problem,” Jordan said brightly. “It’s right this way.”

Beca and Chloe followed Jordan as he started down towards his house, humming along the way.

“So, you two are demigods, right?” he asked conversationally.

“We what?” Beca said.

“It’s okay,” said Jordan quickly, like he was scared he had offended them. “It’s totally fine if you are one. I just figured, since you saved me. I’m a demigod too.”

“You are?” asked Chloe, surprised.

“Oh yeah,” said Jordan. “A goddess did the do with my dad, and poof! I came into existence. That makes me a demigod, right?”

“But – you’re seventeen – I’ve never seen you at Camp Half-Blood?”

“So what about my age?” asked Jordan, ignoring the second half of what Chloe had said.

Chloe looked taken aback. “Nothing. I was just curious. How do you fend for yourself and all?”

“Dunno. I taught the monsters not to mess with me pretty early on,” said Jordan, shrugging.

They eventually arrived at the outskirts of a massive, large, deep green forest.

“Since when did real forests exist in west Texas?” Beca asked, staring up at the leafy trees skeptically.

“I’m not complaining,” Jordan said simply. “Over here. This is my house.”

He led Beca and Chloe to a small shack on the edge of the forest and opened the door for them to enter. It was just one big room, with a window on one wall, a mattress piled in the corner with blankets tossed on it and a basket of clothes sitting next to it. There was a table across from the mattress and various boxes and tools were scattered around the floor.

“Sorry it’s so messy,” Jordan said to them, bringing up a hand to the back of his head and rubbing his neck awkwardly. “Here, take a seat at the table, let me get you some stuff to eat.”

Beca and Chloe sat down on adjacent wobbly wooden chairs while Jordan rummaged around in a container. He came back with a few rolls of bread and a bit of dried meat jerky. It wasn’t much, but Beca ate everything ravenously.

“Dude, thanks so much,” she said as Jordan continued to move around his little dwelling. “I was wondering when the next time I’d see food would be.”

“Can’t turn down the people who prevented me from getting myself killed, now, can I?” Jordan responded. He pulled a bucket of water onto the table. “Thirsty? I got this out from the well in the back just an hour ago.”

“Yes, please,” said Beca.

When Beca was full and content again, she lay back in her seat with a happy sigh, almost absently bringing her hand to Chloe’s. It just felt comforting. It totally wasn’t because she really needed to or anything. And Chloe didn’t seem to mind, so it didn’t matter anyway.

“So, what brings you two lovely ladies out here tonight?” Jordan asked.

“Um,” said Beca, glancing at Chloe, who nodded reassuringly. “we were…headed to Los Angeles. We’re kind of on a quest right now.”

“A quest! Interesting.”

“Yeah,” put in Chloe. “And then we kind of got lost.”

“Just a little bit,” Jordan agreed. “Ended up in Texas instead of California, but close enough, right?”

Chloe laughed. “Yeah…except we don’t really have any money left and we still need to get to L.A. in like two weeks. No transportation.”

“Oh, that’s easy,” said Jordan. He appeared to be deep in thought. “How about this? You do me a little favor, and I get you a ride west. Easy-peasy.”

“You can do that?” Chloe asked, eyes widening in surprise.

“Of course,” said Jordan. “I have me a buddy pegasus out in the forest. Sometimes he’ll take me places. Except he won’t listen to me unless I feed him moonlace, I know, he’s a little bit of an entitled prick. But anyway. Only problem is, I ran out of moonlace a couple weeks ago. I have a garden planted deep in the heart of the forest, but there’s a lot of monsters down there. I don’t think I could handle it anymore, but you two…”

“You want us to go into your dangerous forest and get you some moonlace-whatever?” Beca asked.

“Yeah, that’d be awesome,” said Jordan. “If you did, my pegasus is all yours till Los Angeles.”

Chloe considered it for a while. “Okay. Is that all you want us to do?”

“Sure.”

“And you’ll give us your pegasus to ride all the way to California from here?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow. That’s…that’s amazing. That’s perfect,” breathed Chloe. “Can we go get the moonlace now? We’re kind of operating on a tight schedule.”

“You’ll have to wait until the moon comes out, though,” explained Jordan. “Because, you know. Moonlace doesn’t bloom unless it’s during nighttime. So why don’t you guys take a little break here? Spend a few hours just resting. You two sure look like you need it.”

“He’s right, Chloe,” Beca said, planting her face straight onto the table and yawning. “I’m tired.”

Chloe gazed down at Beca fondly, still holding hands. Their Coca-Cola wristbands were hanging right next to each other, dangling on their respective wrists. “Okay, whatever, weirdo.”

“Oh come on, it’s way too early to sleep,” said Jordan, grinning. He looked outside the window, then turned back to Beca and Chloe with an eager expression. “It’s right before sundown. How about we go fishing?”

“Fishing?” Beca mumbled, her face still pressed into the table.

“Yeah. The river we met at earlier has some pretty good stuff. Whenever I get sick of hunting in the woods I usually take my pole and go for a swing in the water. If you’re lucky, you might even reel in a sea monster or two.”

“Why not?” said Chloe. “Come on, Beca. Let’s go watch Jordan catch fishies.” She tugged on Beca’s hand.

“Fishies,” Beca repeated. “Okay, fine.”

Jordan got out of his seat and went over to the opposite side of the room, plucking a fishing pole off from where it rested, leaning against the wall. “Sorry I’ve only got one, but we can take turns, if you want. Can you hold this for me?”

Chloe got up and accepted the cooler from Jordan and helped him grab the rest of the equipment he needed. “Beca,” she called, wrapping her free arm around Beca, who _still_ had her face in the table.

“I’m coming,” Beca yelped, when Chloe tried to tickle her.

The three of them headed back to the river in the light of the setting sun. This time, Jordan picked his way down a much less steep slope, so that they could set up shop right at the water’s edge.

“Pecos River,” Jordan said, gazing impressively across the smooth surface of the river as the sun cast a faint orange light over it. “Pretty nice, isn’t it?”

“I thought Pecos River was in New Mexico,” Chloe said.

“It starts in New Mexico, yes,” said Jordan, “but it goes all the way through Texas down into the Rio Grande.”

“How do you know this?” Beca was looking at Chloe with wonder. “I didn’t even know there _was_ a Pecos River.”

“You’re a Pecos River.”

“That doesn’t even make any sense?”

“You don’t make any sense.”

Beca sighed, deliberately ignoring Chloe straining not to laugh and instead squeezed her hand tighter. “You’re so weird.”

“Thanks,” said Chloe. She was smiling brightly. Beca couldn’t look away.

Jordan showed them how to hook and bait and then cast the line into the water. “We can take turns,” he said. “After I catch a little something, you guys can try.”

“The only thing I want to catch is a Beca,” said Chloe while they waited.

“You already got one, though,” said Beca, pouting. “Am I not good enough for you?”

Chloe pinched Beca’s arm. “Hmm. Nope. Not enough meat. You won’t taste any good.”

“Excuse you, but I taste delicious.”

Beca winked. Chloe smacked her on the arm, her eyes wide.

Behind them, Jordan yelled, “Watch out!”

He yanked a fish out of the water. It was just a trout hanging off the end of his fishing line, but he hefted it into the air triumphantly.

“Jeez, Jordan, you sounded so panicked I thought we were being attacked or something,” said Beca.

“Scaring people is my favorite pastime,” Jordan agreed. He held his fishing pole out in front of him, offering it to Beca and Chloe. “Any of you ladies want to take a shot?”

“I’ll try, I guess,” said Chloe, shrugging.

“Awesome!” said Jordan. “If you catch a bigger fish than I do, I’ll cook dinner for you guys.”

“You’re on!” Chloe said immediately.

While they waited for a fish or sea monster to come over and nibble at Chloe’s bait, the three of them stood together on the shore, cracking jokes and trying to trip each other up.

“Hey,” Jordan whispered in Beca’s ear. “If you trip up your girlfriend and prevent her from catching a fish, I’ll give you half of my dinner tonight.”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” said Beca. At the same time she felt a little twinge of some weird feeling in her chest. Whatever.

“Do we have a deal or not?” Jordan asked, grinning.

Beca rolled her eyes but smiled back. “I can _try_ ,” she told Jordan. Then she walked up right behind Chloe, whose eyes were trained on the river flowing calmly by, and wrapped her arms around Chloe’s waist.

Chloe jumped a little, obviously not expecting the sudden contact, especially from Beca. “Uh, what are you doing?” she asked.

“Nothing,” said Beca airily, pressing up even closer to Chloe and tightening her hug.

“Are you trying to distract me?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Beca innocently.

“You and Jordan whisper about as quiet as crazy fans at a concert,” said Chloe.

“Shut up and let me hug you,” Beca whined.

Chloe turned her head so she could sneak a look at Beca behind her, a soft smile on her face. “Weirdo,” she said affectionately, turning back around to focus on fishing again.

Beca might have caught sight of a hefty looking trout circling in the deep water, and used her telekinesis to surreptitiously pull it towards Chloe’s fishing hook. She _might_ have. Just maybe. Possibly. Why not?

Seconds later, Chloe shouted, “I think I got one!”

Beca hid her smile by burying her face into Chloe’s back. Then she stepped back to allow Chloe to pull the fish out of the water. “Ha!” she yelled at Jordan. “In your face!”

Then she literally smacked Jordan in the face with the fish. Jordan pulled back, surprised, as Chloe doubled over laughing her head off.

“I’m sorry,” said Chloe, not looking sorry at all. “I couldn’t resist.”

“Of course you couldn’t,” Jordan said, smiling sheepishly. He leaned over to inspect Chloe’s fish, whistling in appreciation. “Not a bad catch, though. I’m impressed.”

“Thanks!” Chloe seemed to glow with the praise.

They fooled around for a little bit longer and Jordan caught another fish before they returned to his house. At that point Jordan had gotten confident and comfortable enough with them that he even put an arm around Chloe’s shoulder as they walked, his other hand carrying the cooler and fishing pole by his side.

Beca felt hurt.

Then she scolded herself for feeling that way.

Jordan was a friendly guy. Chloe was friendly too. Of course they’d end up becoming great friends.

He told Beca and Chloe to stay inside and relax for a bit while he cooked the fish outside in the back, where he had a grill or something near the well. Chloe offered to help, but Jordan waved her away.

“Feel free to chill out on my mattress,” Jordan called as he shut the door.

So they both sat down on his mattress, shoulders brushing, Chloe’s head on Beca’s shoulder.

“Honestly, we’re so lucky to have bumped into Jordan,” Chloe sighed. “He’s been such a huge help to us. He’s a godsend.”

“Literally a godsend too, since he’s a demigod,” added Beca.

Chloe laughed. “I think I’m gonna miss him when we leave tomorrow.”

“ _If_ we leave tomorrow,” Beca corrected. “We might die in the forest trying to get moonlace tonight. You never know.”

“Beca!”

“I’m just saying,” Beca said without even bothering to hide her smile.

Jordan came back half an hour later with more food. Food! Even though Beca had eaten just a few hours before, she was hungry again already. They’d only had a little bit of bread and some jerky as sustenance in the past twenty-four hours, so Beca figured she was allowed to dig in again.

They all sat around the table and Jordan offered them more water and bread along with the freshly grilled trout he’d cooked up earlier. They talked while they ate and probably spent more time laughing than they did actually eating the food.

Also, Beca didn’t appreciate the way Jordan was looking at Chloe.

She mentally shook herself. There was no need to think things like that.

By the time they were full to bursting with food, night had long since fallen. The moon climbed steadily higher into the sky.

“So, you needed moonlace, right?” asked Beca. “Should we go now?”

“Oh yeah,” said Jordan. “Sure. Of course. That’d be awesome. Here, I’ll lead you out to the start of the path to take. Pick like maybe half the garden for me? It should grow out again by itself.”

Jordan took Beca and Chloe outside to the edge of the forest. The interior was dark with shadows and a little bit spooky. Beca’s fingers closed around the cylinder in her pocket, her thumb on the button that would extend it into a sword.

“Any tips?” Chloe asked Jordan.

“Um, sure,” said Jordan, thinking. “Look for a little dinged up toolshed. There’s nothing of interest in it anymore, but the garden’s right next to it. There’s kind of a lot of monsters in here, so just…watch out. As long as you stay on the path, you _should_ be fine. Oh yeah, take this.” He thrust a little drawstring pouch into Chloe’s hands. “Put the moonlace you pick in there. Then come on back out, and I’ll get you your pegasus ready by tomorrow morning.”

“Okay,” said Beca. “Um. Thanks, dude. Really. You’re a life saver.”

“No problem,” said Jordan happily. He gave each of them a high five. “Come back alive! I’ll be waiting back here in my house!”

They watched Jordan leave. Then Beca turned back towards the entrance to the forest, and activated her sword, holding it in front of her with her left hand. The Celestial bronze blade cast a faint glow over their surroundings.

Chloe took a deep breath. “Okay. Go in. Get some magical shiny plant. Leave. Get pegasus. Fly to Los Angeles. We can do this.”

Beca offered Chloe her right hand. Chloe took it immediately.

“Ready when you are,” said Beca.

They crept into the forest.


	10. Brought To the Brink of Death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you know what i thought would be funny

They walked for ten minutes without getting attacked.

Then a basilisk jumped out at them and would have spat straight onto Beca’s face, if Chloe hadn’t heard the hissing and forced her down onto the ground. The tiny little snake soared over their heads instead and landed on the muddy, leaf-filled earth.

It got ready to pounce, but Chloe nailed its head straight onto the ground with a well-placed arrow.

“Um, thanks,” said Beca.

“You’re very welcome,” said Chloe. “But you should watch out. Basilisks like to travel in packs. So more might appear anytime now.”

Not ten seconds after she said that, Beca heard more hissing behind her. She spun around to see two more little snakes lunge in the air. Beca raised her hand and used telekinesis to slam the two together, and in a single wide arc, slashed both of them into two pieces at the same time. They crumbled into dust before they hit the ground.

“Nice,” said Chloe appreciatively.

“Thanks.” Beca grinned. “I’m really enjoying the fact that it’s nighttime. I’m in my element. Everything comes so easy, see, look!”

“Put me down, you nerd!”

Beca laughed. So did Chloe, even though she was floating three feet in the air.

A few other things attacked them, but they were fairly easy to dispatch. They weren’t like the Hydra or the Colchian dragon or the Chimera or big, scary monsters like that.

The pit scorpion was kind of scary, though.

Well, it would have been scary, if Beca didn’t have telekinesis. Chloe warned her that they could jump up to fifteen feet and that their sting packed enough venom to kill a person in sixty seconds.

Beca was feeling so powerful, with the midnight moon poking through the top leaves of the trees, she just grabbed the pit scorpion with her mind and made a huge show of throwing it around, secretly trying to impress Chloe. Then she pinned it against the trunk of a tree and stabbed it until its thick shell caved in. She sliced the scorpion in half and it exploded into dust, fluttering to the ground at her feet.

Chloe looked impressed and amused at the same time. Mission accomplished.

“Okay, Miss Show-Off,” Chloe snorted, spinning Beca around and grabbing her by her waist, hefting her into the air. “You should save some of your energy, you know. Who knows how long we’ll be stuck in this forest.”

As usual, she was right. By the time they’d killed the twentieth macho baby _karpoi_ grain spirit who tried to slay them with wheat, a long hour had passed, and Beca was beginning to grow weary and tired. Something was off about the mood around them. She and Chloe stopped fooling around as often. It was obvious both of them just wanted to find the stupid garden and leave as soon as possible.

“I think that’s the shed Jordan was talking about,” Chloe whispered, poking Beca in the ribs. Beca jumped and glared at Chloe, who smiled. “Come on, let’s go check it out.”

They pushed aside a couple of bushes and small shrubs to make their way to the tiny toolshed. It was clearly barely standing and many of the wooden planks were rotting. The moonlace garden was located right outside the shed.

“It’s so shiny,” was the first thing Beca said.

The little silver sprigs were glowing, rows and rows of them standing neatly in a roughly two-foot by two-foot square patch of dirt. Someone had put up a weak barbed wire fence around the garden, but it didn’t appear to have been necessary. The plants looked untouched.

Chloe stepped carefully over the half-broken fence and bent down to pull up about half of the moonlace, stashing it away in the bag that Jordan had provided. Beca killed a lurking basilisk while she waited.

“Done?” Beca asked when Chloe stood up five minutes later. She grinned and held up her bag.

“It’s all in here,” she said happily. “Let’s head out.”

“Can we take a little break? I’m kind of worn down,” Beca said.

“Because someone didn’t listen to me when I told them not to waste all their energy,” said Chloe pointedly.

Beca made a face. “I was trying to impress you.”

She hadn’t meant for that to slip out, but Chloe’s grin widened and she went to hold Beca’s hand, so whatever.

Chloe opened the door to the toolshed and they slipped in, closing the moldy door behind them. The interior was dark and empty, and the floor was littered with dirt and dead leaves.

In the blackness and silence, Beca finally voiced her discomfort and fears.

“I’m kinda worried about Jordan,” she admitted to Chloe. “I know I shouldn’t be. He gave us so much food and he entertained us for the entire evening and gave us a place to rest. But something just feels off about him.”

Chloe shifted uncomfortably. Beca couldn’t see her, but she heard the dry foliage on the ground around them crinkle. “I don’t know, Beca,” she said. “You did save his life, so he kind of owes us.”

“I guess you’re right,” said Beca. “I just…I guess I didn’t like the way he was looking at you. Like he…like he…you know…”

“Like he what?”

“Like he _liked_ you,” Beca said. She was glad for the darkness around them, because her face was probably on fire. “Okay, that was stupid of me to be angry about. Can you please pretend like I didn’t say anything?”

“Aw, Beca,” said Chloe, and Beca didn’t need to see her to know that she was smiling that warm, genuine smile that always turned her insides into a pile of mush. “That’s so adorable of you.”

“No,” sniffed Beca.

“Well,” Chloe said, sighing, “there isn’t really anything we can do about Jordan now. We’ll just have to get the moonlace back to him, and he can give us his pegasus, and we’ll be off again. Just a couple more hours more, and we’ll be out of here.”

“I guess you're right,” said Beca. “Let’s head back, then. I’m getting kind of sleepy. It must be really late out.”

They trudged back through the forest, hand in hand, killing whatever stray monsters tried to jump in their path. By the time they finally stumbled out of the forest and into open air, Beca wanted to just drop down and snore for maybe three days straight. But their ticket west was dangling right in front of them, and she needed to get it now, before they got delayed any longer.

Beca dragged Chloe over to Jordan’s house as fast as she could, knocking on the door several times before stepping back and looking expectantly ahead.

Jordan opened the door a few seconds later, a grin appearing on his face when he saw Beca and Chloe standing there, waiting for him. “Oh, hey!” he said happily. “You guys made it out alive! Nice job! Do you have the moonlace?”

“Take it,” said Beca, shoving the little bag into his open hands. She was exhausted and couldn’t wait to fly off to Los Angeles and find that stupid three-headed dog to bring back to Hades.

“Thanks so much,” Jordan said genuinely, opening up the bag a tiny bit just to check its contents before closing it again. “I really owe you one.”

“You do,” agreed Beca. “Pegasus?”

“Right,” said Jordan. “It’s like two in the morning though, are you sure you don’t want to leave after the sun rises?”

“Jordan, we appreciate your hospitality, we really do, but we kind of need to leave. Like, as soon as possible, before Hades blows a fuse and tries to incinerate us,” said Chloe.

“Right, right, I’m sorry,” said Jordan. “Well, you two take a little break in here. I’m going to go call for my buddy, okay? I’ll be right back.”

He shut the door behind him, leaving Beca and Chloe sitting at the table, alone.

They were silent for a long while. Then Beca said, “Well, a few minutes more and we should be out of here.”

Chloe simply nodded.

Beca’s insides felt weird. She was awake, but at the same time her body felt like lead. Spending a few hours in the monster-filled forest obviously did not give her any health benefits. Her muscles felt heavy with dread.

She absently fiddled with her cylinder to pass time, careful not to accidentally hit the button and transform it into a sword.

Ten minutes later Jordan poked his head in. He was smiling, but he looked a bit sad. “He’s out back,” Jordan said. “Want to come meet him?”

Chloe took Beca’s hand and together they hobbled to their feet, following Jordan out the door.

He stopped in an open meadow of sorts on the edge of the forest, his back towards Beca and Chloe, gazing out into the midnight air around them. There was no pegasus to be seen.

“Anytime now,” Jordan said nervously.

Beca intertwined her fingers with Chloe’s, holding onto her hand tighter. Chloe squeezed right back.

Jordan turned around. He had a wide smile on his face.

“So this is good-bye, then?” he asked.

“Guess so,” said Beca.

They could see his smile cracking slowly, even from several yards away. He looked like he was about to cry.

“You are really going to leave me?”

“Jordan, we’ve gone over this,” Chloe said patiently. “We’re on a very important quest right now. We have to finish it in two weeks or else we’ll be in real trouble.”

Jordan’s smile fell completely. He was looking back and forth from Beca to Chloe, his expression betraying his desperation.

“Why can’t you stay with me? Just a little bit longer?”

“Are you being serious right now?” Beca said, the hand that wasn’t intertwined with Chloe’s tightening around the sword in her pocket. Jordan was acting like a baby. Here he was, a good few inches on both her and Chloe, with powerful-looking arms and his dirty blonde hair in a neat military-style haircut, and he seemed to be on the verge of tears.

“What? You think I’m joking?” asked Jordan. “I’ve been living on my own for _years_ , and you two pop up out of nowhere and help me out a ton and it’s wrong that I want to spend more time with you?”

“You’re kind of being ridiculous right now,” said Beca. She could feel her frustration beginning to mount. She was tired and beat up and really needed to leave for her quest like…now. And Jordan was definitely not helping matters with his little good-bye angst show. “Jordan, you promised us a ride west if we did you a favor, now are you going to uphold it or not?”

“You never made me swear on the River Styx,” Jordan replied, shrugging.

That comment jarred Beca. “Look, where the fuck is your pegasus? I don’t have time for this nonsense. We need to leave. Now.”

“But I want you to stay here!” Jordan protested. “Please don’t make me force you to…”

Beca let go of Chloe’s hand and drew her sword, holding it defensively out in front of her. Jordan took a few steps back as Beca moved forward. He held up his hands and said in a light voice, “Hey now, let’s be diplomatic about this…no need to pull out the big guns…”

“I knew you were a little shit who couldn’t be trusted,” Beca said, annoyed and pissed. And she did. Deep down she knew that Jordan had been a sketchy guy from the start. But she also knew that if they hadn’t bumped into him, they’d likely still be lost on the Texan plains, severely lacking in food and water. If they hadn’t accepted Jordan’s help, they could very well have died of starvation, out in the middle of nowhere.

But now they had to deal with Jordan’s very real, very noticeable lack of a pegasus ride.

Beca could feel her vision reddening with fury. Her anger was getting the better of her again. “Look, Jordan,” she said, fighting to keep her voice from shaking, “you’ve been a huge help to us. But if you’re not going to follow through with our deal, my sword hand is getting really twitchy and if you’re in the way–”

“Or you could stay here and live with me forever,” Jordan said desperately, taking a few more steps back when Beca’s bronze blade glinted under the moonlight. Beca noticed he seemed to be addressing Chloe more than her. “Think about it. I could protect you from Hades. We could wake up every day together, and go fishing, or hunting in the woods. We can cook and eat meals together, and laugh at jokes we tell each other as we watch the sun set every night.”

“Jordan,” Beca said, “I’m going to need you to–”

“Beca, that’s enough.”

Chloe had reached out an arm to stop Beca, who was in the middle of getting ready to lunge for Jordan. “Scumbags like him don’t deserve to be persuaded.”

Beca looked up at Chloe, shocked. Her face was dead set and hard, and she was glaring harshly at Jordan.

She looked terrifying.

But her voice was completely calm.

“This is your last chance, Jordan.”

Jordan remained motionless, frowning.

Beca had never seen Chloe like this before. It scared her.

She almost felt sorry for Jordan when Chloe reached him in two quick strides, slammed her right hand on his shoulder, and brought her other fist straight to his balls.

He screamed in pain and crumpled, and Chloe took the chance while he was doubled over to put her other hand on his other shoulder and pull his body down so that his face connected squarely with her knee.

It was all over in two swift movements, and then Jordan was on the ground, clutching both his crotch and his bleeding nose, with Chloe standing resolutely over him. Her expression was wholly merciless and unforgiving.

Beca raced over to the scene. “Chloe– wha–”

Chloe didn’t even say anything. Her silence was enough to scare Beca to stop talking, even though she knew Chloe’s anger wasn’t directed at her.

When Beca was angry, she got all fiery and jumpy and furious, itching to jump into action and dice the cause of her rage into a million pieces. In a way, that was scary, but it was nothing compared to angry Chloe.

Beca realized she hadn’t even seen angry Chloe before. Angry Chloe was all dark rage, boiling away inside her while she remained completely calm on the outside. She was just standing there, coldly looking down at Jordan and relishing in his pain as he struggled to scoot away from her and get words out of his sputtering mouth.

“C-Chloe…” he said, wiping away another streak of blood from his nose. “You…”

“Keep talking,” Chloe said shortly, lifting up a hand to inspect her nails almost casually. “Keep talking, and see what happens.”

Jordan actually did keep talking. Something inside of him had snapped, and now, despite still trying to nurse the area in between his legs, he was looking up at Chloe with determination in his eyes.

“Chloe. You asked me why you never saw me at camp. Guess what? _I_ saw _you_. I remember. I was thirteen when I showed up at Camp Half-Blood. They shoved me in the Hermes cabin like I was a piece of cargo, and I remember you were there talking with your little friend, the blondie daughter of Hermes. You _smiled_ at me. I remember because no one else paid me any attention. I was a nobody.”

Chloe didn’t say anything. Jordan took that as a sign that he should continue.

“I waited for months to get claimed. It never happened when you little campers said it would. The head counselor for Hermes – who was it at the time? Connor, I think? He told me, maybe like twice at most, that I shouldn’t worry, that my godly parent would send a sign very, very soon. After that he grew bored of me and then he ignored me like everyone else did.”

“Jordan, what’s your point?” Beca asked, frustrated.

“My _point_ is,” he said, shooting a glare at Beca before turning his attention back to Chloe again, “no one gave a flying fuck about me until I got claimed. And guess who it was. My mom was Eris, a _minor goddess_ , and she had no cabin even though Camp Half-Blood supposedly takes in anybody. They didn’t want me staying in the Hermes cabin anymore. Now people were starting to notice me, because they were scared of me. I’m the kid of the goddess of strife and discord. No one wanted me around to stir things up. I was treated like the plague.”

Chloe shifted on her feet. If Beca didn’t know Chloe as well as she did at that point, she wouldn’t have caught the flash of discomfort that flickered in her expression, just for a moment.

“I ran away before the summer ended. Spent a few years getting my ass whooped by monsters, but I always drove them crazy and they stopped bothering me eventually. I settled down here in Texas when I was fifteen. Been living alone ever since. Then you show up, and you can’t deny we were very good friends. You saw me for who _I_ was, not for who my mom is. We could be best buddies living together.”

Beca oddly felt a little bad for Jordan, who was huddled in a tiny ball, trying not to fracture under Chloe’s stare.

But Chloe showed no sympathy.

“So what are you trying to say? You had a shitty early adolescence, and therefore you feel entitled to keep me here in your company? Boo-hoo. So sad,” she said, her voice lacking in emotion.

Jordan’s face twisted in a desperate sort of sadness. “Chloe, please…I’ve spent four years stuck by myself, with my horrible legacy and no one to keep me company…please…you could just…stay here with me…”

Chloe yawned, she actually physically _yawned_ , and then said, “Oh no. Poor guy wasted a quarter of his life being _mildly_ inconvenienced. Did you know, there’s just one thing I can’t stand. And that’s people who try to get their selfish way by using _pity_.”

She spat the last word. And then she kicked Jordan in the face.

“I trusted you, Jordan,” said Chloe when Jordan fell back to the ground, shocked. “I trusted you and believed in you and I was nice to you, and this is how you’re going to repay me?”

She started beating him up. Chloe was punching the life out of him, and Beca remained frozen to the spot in terror. She knew Jordan deserved some punishment, but he hadn’t actually caused real harm to them yet. Chloe was going too far.

If Beca didn’t do anything soon, Chloe was actually going to end up killing Jordan.

She didn’t have any qualms about killing monsters, since they were the ones trying to kill her, and they’d end up reforming in the pits Tartarus a few thousand years later anyways. But killing another human being in cold blood – especially one who wasn’t actively trying to hurt them yet – that was different.

Chloe didn’t seem to think so.

Beca had never seen her so unforgiving before. Chloe was supposed to be nice. She was supposed to be bubbly and happy and kind to everyone and full of life.

Chloe wasn’t supposed to be intent on literally murdering the defenseless boy lying on the ground under her.

“Chloe!” Beca called desperately, risking her own life to grab Chloe’s left arm, trying to pull her away from Jordan. “Chloe, stop, you’re going to kill him! He’s going to die if you keep going!”

“People like him shouldn’t be living at all,” Chloe said, and drove her fist into Jordan’s stomach. Beca heard something crack. Jordan tried to scream in pain, but it left his mouth in a strangled cry that died off at the end.

“Chloe! Seriously, stop! What’s gotten into you?”

Beca dropped her sword and wrapped both her arms around Chloe’s stomach, forcibly pulling her off of Jordan and dragging her back away.

“Let me go,” Chloe hissed.

“No,” said Beca firmly, even though she was quaking on the inside. “You need to get yourself under control.”

“You don’t understand anything, Beca,” Chloe said. “You don’t understand…”

She was right. Beca didn’t understand why Chloe was acting this way. But she _did_ understand that Jordan didn’t deserve to die. Moderately injured, sure, but death?

Jordan had managed to sit up, his arms propping him up while he struggled to stay crouched on his knees. His breathing came slow and heavy.

“Fine then,” he croaked. “If I can’t ask you to stay, I’m just going to have to keep you here by force…”

The air around them seemed to be getting lighter. Then Beca realized that it was because all the darkness in the area was spiraling towards Jordan, wrapping around him like some creepy shadow mist cloak. It was obviously making him more powerful, because within a few seconds, he was standing up, and looking a lot scarier than a sniffling boy on the ground.

“I tried to play nice with you, and you tried to kill me,” Jordan said. “Now I have to fight back. Just know that you brought this upon yourself. Did you ever think what me being a child of Eris would mean? I can drive you crazy with just my powers, and give you the nastiest death I can imagine. I don’t even have to fight you two. I could just make you fight each other.”

“Just shut up already,” said Chloe, forcing herself out of Beca’s grip and pulling out her bow. She readied a shot at Jordan, but not before he took out a small coin from his pocket and held it out in front of him. With a flick, it grew into a wicked three-foot long sword with a pitch black blade.

Jordan grinned when Chloe hesitated and took a step back. “That’s right, missy,” he said. “Stygian iron. Go on, touch the blade. It’ll guarantee you a one-way trip to eternal suffering.”

Then, with the black mist still swirling around him, he jumped into battle.

He was no Aubrey, so Beca could initially hold her own against him. But it was the most intense battle of her pitiful demigod life so far, after she’d levitated the sword she’d dropped earlier back into her hand and brought it up to her face just in time to block Jordan’s powerful attack. Aubrey never pushed as hard as Jordan did. She never fought her with a soul-sucking weapon before.

Chloe shot an arrow through his shoulder, and he grunted, taking another swipe at Beca. It was fast, and it was headed for her left arm. Aubrey would have told her to take the hit and then go at Jordan on the right while he was defenseless there. But she knew if that black metal made contact with her, her soul would get sucked into the sword. She learned that much from her morning classes at Camp Half-Blood.

She attempted to tug the sword out of Jordan’s grip with her telekinesis, but he was holding on to it too tightly, and he was swinging it too quickly.

So instead, she blocked the attack with her own blade, knowing full well what would happen when they connected.

Sure enough, Jordan twisted his sword and hers went flying out of her grip, landing onto the flat ground with a dull thud. While Beca scrambled back to avoid being attacked further, Jordan looked down at his shoulder, grimacing when he saw Chloe’s arrow lodged there.

Beca was running out of breath. It was way past midnight and she’d been worn down a ton being in the forest earlier. She realized furiously that making them go in the forest was probably part of Jordan’s plan all along – get them exhausted, so they would agree to stay with him without a fight.

What a creep.

Correction: Maybe Jordan _did_ deserve to die.

If only she weren’t so busy trying to prevent herself from getting killed.

Chloe shot another arrow through Jordan’s other shoulder and he yelled. “Now you’ve done it,” he shouted, and reached into his pocket, bringing out a handful of gleaming white objects.

The only reason why Beca still had enough energy to use her powers was because it was nighttime, the moon shining down on them from above. Even so, she had to summon more strength than she could afford to spend to shove Jordan as hard as she could. He tripped and fell, his sword clattering onto the ground, but he closed his fist around whatever he was holding in his other hand.

He tried to sit up, but Beca pushed him back down again with her telekinesis, her hand out in front of her, palm up.

“This is your last chance,” Jordan said nervously. “Before I have no choice but to…”

The words died in his throat. Chloe was standing above him, arrow trained on his heart.

“Try any more funny business, and you die,” said Chloe.

“If you kill me, you’ll have no ride west,” Jordan choked out.

“Like you were going to give us one in the first place,” said Chloe.

Beca stepped forward, pushing Jordan even harder onto the ground. He tried to open his hand, but she wouldn’t let him. He groaned in frustration.

“Come on, girls,” he tried. “It doesn’t have to be this way. Look at what you’ve brought out in me. My mom…my mom would be proud of me starting all this conflict between us. It’s her life force. She would want me to keep relentlessly attacking you until both of you were nothing but the remnants of complete chaos. But…I won’t do that. I will give you another chance…you can stay with me willingly, and then we won’t have to fight anymore. I…I’m not a monster.”

“I think you’re a bit too far in to make that claim,” said Chloe, and she shot her arrow.

Jordan closed his eyes and a void of darkness appeared above his chest, sucking in the arrow before it closed and dissipated into a cloud of black mist. When he opened his eyes again, they had a slightly crazy and maniacal glint in them.

“What do you take me for, weak?” he said. He opened his fist, the white objects tumbling out onto the ground. Beca was close enough to see they were sharp and slightly curved. There were three of them. They looked like teeth.

Beca didn’t understand what was so significant about the fact that Jordan just carried teeth around with him in his pocket, but Chloe seemed to recognize what they were. A flicker of surprise and alarm crossed her face and she took a step back, readying another arrow onto her bow.

Before she could fire, though, Jordan slammed his fist onto the teeth, driving them into the dirt. Seconds later, the ground began to rumble.

Beca was so surprised, her telekinetic grip on Jordan loosened. He rolled away to the side, and Chloe’s arrow lodged itself onto the spot where he’d been occupying just a moment before.

“Beca, get back!” Chloe shouted, panicked, throwing out an arm and trying to protect Beca. The dirt was churning in front of them, and Beca could have sworn she saw a flash of white shoot out of the ground. Jordan now stood across from them, arms crossed, a satisfied expression on his face.

And just like that, a pair of skeletal hands appeared, pulling the rest of its skeleton body out of the dirt.

“ _Spartoi_ ,” Jordan commented. “Nasty little suckers. Too bad you can’t kill them unless you’re a child of the Underworld. Have fun.”

The other two _spartoi_ had fully formed by then, and all three of them stood at attention in a single line, obviously waiting for Jordan’s orders. They had translucent gray skin, showing off their bones inside under the military uniform they were wearing.

“Hmm,” said Jordan. “Kill them. Actually, take the red-haired one hostage. You can do whatever you want with the other one.”

The skeleton warriors sprang into action.

Jordan wasn’t lying. Beca stabbed her sword straight through the _spartus_ that charged for her, but it was completely unfazed, giving her a harsh punch to her jaw. She stumbled a little, shocked. The skeleton pulled out a rib from its chest – which, _gross_ – and chucked it at Beca. She swatted it aside with her telekinesis.

She felt something stir behind her and turned around just in time to see Jordan with his Stygian iron sword back in his hand, lunging for her stomach. She brought her blade down on his just in time to deflect the blow.

The _spartus_ behind her kept up his attacks, and Beca was trying to defend herself from Jordan at the same time. She couldn’t keep attacking both of them at the same time, not even with her powers. Especially since one of them couldn’t even die.

Well, one of them couldn’t die by her hand.

She got an idea.

Jordan kept slashing at her sides because she was keeping her torso protected with her sword. She needed him to stab straight forward.

What would Aubrey tell her to do?

Beca surreptitiously dropped her defenses, leaving her chest wide open, and Jordan’s eyes narrowed.

 _Come on_ , Beca thought, twisting her head around to push the skeleton warrior back again. _Do it._

Jordan took the opening and stabbed for her heart.

She ducked at the last second, just as the skeleton warrior lunged, and Jordan’s sword went through the skeleton’s translucent chest instead.

For a split second, nothing happened. The _spartus_ just stood there, staring blankly at its master. Then it crumbled into a pile of clear goop and bones, slowly sinking back into the ground again.

“Dammit!” swore Jordan. “You think you’re so clever, don’t you? What, you gonna try to make me kill my other two warriors, huh? Fine! I’ll just leave them to fight you by themselves while I enjoy the view!”

He stormed off, giving Beca a clear view of Chloe’s fight with the other two _spartoi_. It was not going well. She had dropped her bow, once she discovered that her arrows had no effect on them, and was now engaging in a fistfight with both of them at the same time. They kept trying to grab her arm, and she would kick one in the face or its nonexistent nuts, and they’d let go, only for the other one to try again.

“Hey, dummies!” Beca yelled. The skeleton warriors turned their attention on her. She freaked out internally. Now she had distracted them from Chloe, but she had no way to kill them.

Maybe if she used Jordan’s sword instead? She opened her hand in Jordan’s direction and his sword flew out of his grip and straight into Beca’s. He looked momentarily annoyed, but then grinned smugly and made no move to stop her. She retracted her own sword into its cylinder form and threw it at Chloe, who caught it in surprise, and then re-activated it, flashing Beca a thumbs up as she moved closer.

Together, back-to-back, Beca and Chloe faced the skeleton warriors, slashing and hacking at them, but nothing happened. Even Jordan’s stupid Stygian iron blade did no damage to them when Beca was the one wielding it. Meanwhile, she and Chloe were getting more and more battered by the second.

Beca wracked her brain, trying to remember what she’d learned about the _spartoi_ back at camp. Surely she’d had a least one lesson that covered them.

She knew that they sprang up from planted dragon teeth. Who was the guy in the myths who did it? Cadmus. Beca suddenly remembered Chloe talking about this. He’d killed a dragon that was sacred to Ares, who told him to take its teeth and sow them. Once the skeleton warriors appeared, Cadmus was scared of them…so he threw a stone in their midst. They started fighting each other after that, because they thought that the stone had been thrown by one of the others.

That’s how they had ended up killing themselves.

So Beca just had to get them to fight each other.

She pushed Chloe out of the way and stuck her hand out at one of the _spartoi_ , aiming for its fist. The skeleton turned on her. If it had eyes it probably would’ve been glaring at Beca. They briefly fought for control over its arm, and Beca won. With her last burst of energy, she managed, using telekinesis, to make the skeleton throw all its weight forward and punch the other one in the face.

The other _spartus_ whirled around, looking offended, and slapped the first warrior right back. Beca stepped out of the line of fire, standing next to Chloe to watch the show. It would have been almost funny, seeing the two smack each other repeatedly, if they hadn’t been relentless undead monsters.

The fight quickly turned nasty, and it soon became clear that they were going to kill each other. Jordan noticed this as well, and he shouted, “Hey!” from where he was standing. He sprinted over to the warriors, intent on breaking them up, but before he reached them, they had torn each other’s heads off and fallen to the ground, motionless.

“Gah!” Jordan yelled, looking between Chloe and Beca furiously. “Give me a weapon!” He decided that it would be easier to get the bronze sword from Chloe, who was standing closer, and wrenched it out of her hands. When Chloe tried to hit him, he kicked her in the side and then went for Beca.

“I’ll finish you myself,” Jordan snarled, and their swords connected, Jordan using Beca’s Celestial bronze blade, and Beca holding on to Jordan’s Stygian iron sword for dear life.

But not for long.

Jordan did his stupid disarming trick again and her sword went flying. Just like that, Beca was weaponless. Before she could try to get it back with telekinesis, Jordan slammed the butt of his sword as hard as he could into the side of Beca’s face.

Stars filled her vision. She stumbled to the side, and suddenly she had fallen heavily against a tree on the edge of the forest. Jordan stood above her, sword at the ready.

“I never cared for you much,” he said. “It’s Chloe who I want to stay with me. You, you can go to hell.”

Beca tried to open her mouth to respond, but she couldn’t. She was too dizzy.

Jordan lifted the sword behind him, and stabbed forwards with a sense of finality. He was going in for the kill.

Beca tried to stop him with telekinesis, and she also tried to move out of the way, but her body felt like a sack of cement.

This was it. She was going to die at the hands of a crazy demigod stranger who lived in deserted Texas.

She had failed the quest, she couldn’t get Hades’ stupid dog back to him in time, she’d fallen into a trap, and now she was going to pay for it with her life.

Then Chloe appeared.

She pushed Jordan forward, away from Beca, and stepped into the line of fire herself.

Beca wanted to scream.

Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion.

It couldn’t be. It _couldn’t_ be happening.

The Celestial bronze blade sank deep into Chloe’s stomach, poking out the other side.

Jordan yanked the sword out immediately, horrified at what he’d done, and backed up fearfully.

 _You fucking monster_ , Beca would’ve said, if she’d had the energy to.

But she didn’t.

She could only watch as Chloe fell to her knees, blood blossoming across her stomach and back, staining her shirt a deep, dark red.


	11. Don't Get Left In the Dust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this became a longer-ass chapter than intended

Her first instinct was to run for Chloe and make sure she wasn’t – oh, _hell_ , Beca hoped dearly that she wasn’t dead.

But Jordan was still standing there. Shell-shocked, sure, but he was holding a weapon. He was holding Beca’s Celestial bronze sword, the sword that was now covered in blood – _Chloe’s_ blood, and Beca wanted to tear him into a million pieces.

Fiery hatred and pure, blinding fury bubbled up inside of her. She forced herself off the tree and catapulted herself right at Jordan. Her hands were bright with crackling energy and she connected her glowing fist, hard and solid, into his stomach. He doubled over, and Beca took the opportunity to levitate the Stygian iron sword into her hand, not taking her eyes off of Jordan, while stomping on his wrist until he let go of Beca’s sword.

She knocked him to the ground with a harsh kick to the chest and pinned him there with her telekinesis.

“You. Don’t. Hurt. Chloe. Like. That!” Beca shouted, punctuating each word with a punch to Jordan’s face. And boy, did it feel good. Jordan’s face was actually blackening and burning, too, under Beca’s fiery hands. “Chloe is…Chloe is my…”

“Girlfriend,” taunted Jordan.

The next thing Beca was aware of through all her anger was that Jordan was lying motionless on the ground. The black sword was in his chest.

“I saved your life, you ungrateful little shit,” Beca heard herself saying.

Then she forced herself, with great difficulty, to her feet, ignoring the pain in her head and how her hands hurt and how exhausted she was and how _holy crap she just killed a human being_. She didn’t care about herself. All she wanted to know was that Chloe was okay.

But she wasn’t.

Chloe was lying on the ground, on her back, her legs crumpled awkwardly beneath her.

She wasn’t moving.

“Chloe, Chloe, oh gods, Chloe, please,” Beca said, panicked, kneeling down next to Chloe and looking into her eyes. “Please don’t die. Chloe, _please_ , you can do this, stay strong, please don’t leave me.”

Chloe didn’t respond, but she blinked up at Beca, her eyes following her when Beca shifted. Beca almost cried with relief. Chloe was still alive.

But she was in terrible shape. Beca had to stop the bleeding before it was too late. But Beca wasn’t the medic, Chloe was. What were they supposed to do when the healer was the one critically injured?

“I don’t know how to do this!” Beca cried, scrambling to pick up Chloe’s tattered backpack from where she’d dropped it in the fight earlier. “Chloe, I don’t know what to do! I’m scared! I’m so sorry, Chloe…”

She really didn’t. She was clueless. The only thing she learned at Camp Half-Blood in terms of first aid was to cleanse the wound in nectar. Except that was supposed to be for like, minor scrapes from a scratch by a monster, not a huge body-piercing wound from a Celestial bronze weapon.

Beca’s heartbeat was pounding in her ears. Chloe’s life depended on her. She couldn’t mess up now. So she finally found their bottle of nectar, grabbed it, and skidded back to Chloe’s side. She eased Chloe into a more comfortable position, gently pulling her legs out from under her and resting them against the grass.

Then she took a deep breath and rolled up Chloe’s shirt.

Beca refused to dwell upon the severity of the wound and instead focused on pouring the godly drink over Chloe’s stomach. She groaned in pain and Beca’s heart broke.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Beca said, over and over again, wincing whenever Chloe did. She hated that she was causing even more pain to her. Chloe’s eyes were screwed shut now, but she didn’t say anything. She reached out, wearily, weakly, and put her hand on Beca’s.

Beca held Chloe’s hand in both of her own, squeezing tightly, trying to ignore how frail Chloe’s grip was.

“Just a little bit longer,” Beca told Chloe with tears in her eyes. “You can do it, Chloe, I believe in you, just hold out a little bit longer.”

Chloe closed her eyes and nodded, almost imperceptibly, but Beca caught it and her heart wanted to explode even more.

This was probably all her fault. Chloe was dying because Beca thought it would be a good idea to stay with Jordan. She thought that he’d actually provide them with a ride west, if they’d gone and got his moonlace for him. And now Chloe had to suffer because of it, because Beca had failed to prevent Jordan from stabbing her in the first place.

She’d taken that hit for her. Beca felt sick, because she _knew_ she would have died for sure, if Chloe hadn’t stepped in just then.

Beca put Chloe into this situation, and now it was her duty to get her out of it.

She pulled Chloe’s backpack towards her and rummaged around in it for some more supplies. She poured a little more nectar on Chloe’s wound, which didn’t seem to be closing up yet, but the bleeding had definitely stopped, and it was looking slightly less threatening and terrifying.

“Wait here one second,” Beca said, thinking of something. She lifted Chloe’s hand to her lips and gently pressed a kiss to it. “I’ll be right back, I promise.”

She scrambled back into Jordan’s house, taking the bucket of well water that was still about a quarter full and racing outside. She dropped the bucket next to Chloe and found a cloth inside her backpack, dipping it into the water and gently rubbing the area around Chloe’s injury, cleaning out the dirt and grime.

Chloe winced and Beca pulled away, terrified she’d hurt her further, but Chloe reached out for Beca’s hand again, a reassuring sign for her to keep going.

After washing away all the blood and drying it off, Beca wrapped Chloe’s stomach with a roll of bandages she found in the backpack. She looked much better after Beca helped her take off her ruined shirt and change into a cleaner one.

Beca spent the next ten minutes letting Chloe take a break while she fed her a little bit of ambrosia. “How are you feeling?” Beca asked nervously.

Chloe shook her head, apparently still too weak to talk.

“I don’t think you should fall asleep out here,” said Beca. “It’s not very safe or comfortable. Do you think you have enough strength to make it back to Jordan’s house? We can sleep there tonight, until you’re better.”

Chloe nodded weakly.

So Beca crawled over and helped Chloe sit up, then stand, then hobble slowly, excruciatingly, over to the now abandoned shack. She used her telekinesis to make Chloe’s transition easier, while resolutely ignoring how her mind screamed to be given a break, even as the pain and exhaustion began to build.

She was _not_ going to rest until Chloe was safely inside and asleep.

And this fierce protectiveness over the girl she cared so much for was what kept Beca going.

It was weird settling Chloe down onto the mattress in the corner of the room, knowing full well that the guy she’d just murdered used to sleep in it every night. Beca sat down on the bed and Chloe curled up on her lap.

“Will you be okay?” Beca asked worriedly.

Chloe lifted up a hand and made the _come closer_ gesture. So Beca bent her head down towards Chloe, confused.

Chloe waved her hand again. _Closer_.

Beca leaned down further.

Chloe lifted her head up and planted a kiss on Beca’s cheek. Her lips lingered there for a second longer, and when she pulled back, her expression said _Thank you_.

Beca sniffled. She could feel the tears filling her eyes again.

Chloe fell asleep a short while later, and then Beca finally allowed herself to cry. About how badly things had turned in the past few hours. About camp and her friends, Aubrey and Jesse and Stacie and the others, and about how much she missed waking up safe in her bunk, ready to fool around with them for an entire day.

But she cried the most about Chloe, and how idiotic Beca felt for getting herself into a position where Chloe had to jump in like that, and how she hoped so badly that she would be okay.

When Beca was done crying, she rubbed her eyes, pinched herself in the cheek, and then forced herself to stay awake to make sure Chloe would be okay at all times.

Gradually, the sun rose again, but Beca was focused on Chloe, on her steady breathing, on her peaceful expression when she was asleep.

 

…

 

“…Beca?”

Beca shook herself. She was awake, dammit. But somehow she hadn’t caught the fact that Chloe’s eyes were open, and she was looking up at her, a little bit confused, a little bit in pain.

Beca would have mentally slapped herself if her brain wasn’t already half-fried. “Yeah?” she said softly.

“My stomach hurts,” Chloe said in a small voice.

There went Beca’s heart again. “Do you know anything else I can do to make it better?”

Chloe shook her head. “I didn’t bring any serious medicine stuff. I wasn’t expecting something like this to happen.” She let out a weak laugh.

Beca must have been looking extremely guilty, because then Chloe said, “Hey. Don’t you dare blame yourself for this. I took that hit willingly.”

“You didn’t even need to get hurt, though,” Beca said sadly. “Jordan wasn’t planning on killing you, you could have run away.”

“Yes, I could have,” said Chloe quietly, shifting slightly in Beca’s lap and closing her eyes. “Except leaving you behind would hurt me worse than any physical injury ever could.”

Beca felt the air go out of her lungs. She must have been the luckiest person alive, to become so close with a person like Chloe. She tried to open her mouth to respond to her, to tell her how grateful and thankful she was, but unfortunately her mind had already combusted due to the sudden influx of intense feelings inside her.

“Uhhh,” she said instead, but Chloe smiled softly, so maybe it was okay.

From the single window in the house Beca could tell that it was daytime out.

“How much time do we have left?” asked Chloe.

“Until what?”

“Until we have to finish the quest.”

“Um,” said Beca, wracking her brain. Neither of them were very good with calculating the passage of time. “You’re going to have to help me here. How many days has it been?”

Eventually, after ten minutes of arguing and almost vain attempts to remember when they had left camp, they finally determined that it was day eight out of twenty-one, therefore making it currently a Wednesday.

“It’s been a full week,” Beca realized. “We left camp on Wednesday morning. And now look where we are.” She laughed bitterly.

“Hey, I’d say we’re making good progress,” Chloe said optimistically, despite still being curled up wearily on Beca’s lap. “We have two weeks left and we’re already halfway to Cerberus.”

“Then do you want to take a break? We can have this day off, take some time for you to recover,” said Beca.

“No,” said Chloe. “I’m totally fine, let’s keep going.”

Beca stared at her with a mixture of skepticism and affection. Because of course Chloe would try to pretend like her near-fatal injury wasn’t bothering her for Beca’s sake.

“I can do it,” Chloe insisted.

Beca kept staring at her.

“Fine,” sighed Chloe, turning over and burying her face into Beca’ stomach. “We can stay here, but just for today only, okay?”

“Anything for you, milady.”

Beca felt Chloe trying to hide her smile, pressing it into her shirt. “Beca?” she said softly.

“Yes?”

“I’m really glad you’re alive.”

“Oh. Yeah.” Something was fluttering inside her chest, something that swooped and filled up her entire being and made her feel giddy with happiness. In the back of her mind, Beca knew what this pleasant feeling was, but her brain pushed away the thought. “Me too. I’m glad you’re alive too.”

“I’m glad you brought me along on this quest with you,” Chloe continued. “Otherwise you might be dead right now. And I would be really sad if you died.”

“I’m sorry,” Beca blurted out.

“What?” Chloe turned to look up at Beca, confused.

“I’m sorry,” Beca said again. “I’m sorry for making you hurt yourself like this. I’m sorry I got us into this mess. I’m sorry I –”

“Beca.” Chloe was looking up into Beca’s eyes, holding her gaze firmly, and Beca could only stare back, captivated and lost and drowning all at the same time. “It wasn’t your fault. It really wasn’t, don’t beat yourself up for what’s happened.”

“Just promise me one thing, then,” Beca managed to say.

“What?”

“Don’t throw yourself in harm’s way like that for me ever again.”

“I’ll save your life as many times as I please,” responded Chloe. “I’m not letting you go that easily, you nerd.”

“Good. Because…because…” Beca could feel tears welling up in her eyes again. Why did Chloe make her feel so many things?

_You know why, idiot_ , she thought.

Thankfully Beca was saved from having to say anything else by Chloe’s stomach growling in hunger, which caused her to groan slightly. “That hurt,” said Chloe, wincing.

“Stay here,” Beca said immediately. “I’ll find you some food. Do you want ambrosia?”

Chloe shook her head. “If I eat any more, I feel like I’ll evaporate.”

“Okay.” Beca eased herself as gently as she could out from under Chloe, settling her carefully against the blankets. “I’ll be right back.”

As soon as she had stood up, though, a wave of nausea nearly swept her off her feet. She leaned to the side a little, bracing herself against the wall for support. Her head was pounding, sending sharp jolts of pain that she could feel in the back of her eyes. She’d spent way too much energy yesterday fighting and using her powers, and topped that off by refusing to sleep at all last night. And now it was coming back to get her.

“Beca. Beca? Are you okay?” Chloe asked from her position on the bed, valiantly trying to sit up, but failing.

“I’ll be fine,” Beca said with her eyes squeezed shut. “I’m just a little tired. I’m getting you food now, see, look.”

She took a single step, stumbled, and was so exhausted she almost was unable to catch herself. Chloe watched her with wide eyes. “Just _a little_ tired?” she repeated, alarmed. “Beca, why do you keep overexerting yourself? Please take a break! Get some rest!”

“No,” said Beca resolutely, stumbling towards the boxes where she’d seen Jordan keep his food. She shook her head a couple times, thinking for some reason that the action would clear her mind. It only made the pain worse. “I’m getting you _food_. You’re hungry…so I have to find you something to _eat_.”

“Beca, there’s no need to push yourself for me!” Chloe said worriedly.

“Says the person who literally took a sword to the gut for _me_ ,” said Beca. “I’m trying to repay the favor, Chloe, goddammit.”

She finally found where Jordan stashed his bread and brought a couple of rolls over to Chloe. “Here,” she said, shoving the food into Chloe’s hands.

Beca had barely managed to help Chloe into a somewhat comfortable sitting position and make sure she had enough to eat before she promptly passed out at the foot of the mattress.

 

…

 

When she woke up, the sun was setting.

“Holy crap,” was the first thing she said. “I’m so sorry I blacked out. Chloe, are you okay? Chloe?”

“I’m fine, Beca,” said Chloe somewhere in front of her. Beca lifted her head and saw her looking down at her fondly. “You totally deserved that rest. You slept like a rock.”

“I feel like one too,” Beca grumbled, stretching a little and rubbing the back of her neck. “My head feels like Zeus came over and farted on it or something.”

“You really keep pushing yourself pretty hard,” said Chloe. “Honestly, I’m really impressed. Look how much stronger you’ve gotten since you arrived at camp.”

“Look how much more dead I’ve become,” Beca said, before she remembered that Chloe had been a human shish kebab less than twenty-four hours ago and shut up.

Beca brought Chloe more food and they shared a small, silent meal. When they were done, Beca said, “So, what now?”

Chloe shrugged. “Keep going?”

“Still have no ride,” Beca thought, a prickle of anger sparking inside her when she remembered that they were still very much only halfway to their destination and still had no means of transportation to cover the remaining distance to Los Angeles. “And, no, I am _not_ letting you _walk_ across America with a giant hole in your stomach.”

“We can’t just wait here,” Chloe said. Her expression darkened for a second before she relaxed again and sighed. “There’s no choice, and we don’t have much time left to waste.”

“Fine,” said Beca, resigned. “Get a good night’s sleep tonight, then. We leave tomorrow morning.”

“You have to sleep too,” said Chloe.

Beca didn’t say anything. She had actually been planning on keeping watch over Chloe, actually.

“Beca,” said Chloe.

“What? Oh yeah, of course I’m going to sleep tonight!”

“If you don’t sleep, I won’t either.”

“Chloe! You have to get all the rest you need!”

“So do you,” said Chloe pointedly. “I’ll wake you up if I need any help. I’ll be fine.”

Beca sighed, the overwhelming amount of affection she felt for Chloe temporarily wiping out the tiredness and frustration from her system. “You’re the best,” she mumbled, scooting close to Chloe, who moved to lean her head on Beca’s shoulder.

“No, you are,” Chloe replied.

If Beca’s stupid heart would stop freaking out whenever Chloe said something like that, she’d actually be able to respond properly for once.

 

…

 

It was still dark out when Beca awoke. Her bones ached and her head throbbed dully. Chloe was pressed close to her front, still deep in sleep.

Beca gently extracted herself from behind Chloe and leaned her slowly against the blankets, then got up and moved around the house, looking for anything they could take to ease their trip on foot across the United States, at least until they could reach another town or city.

It wasn’t really stealing, Beca reasoned with herself, if the owner of these things was currently dead.

Oh.

Jordan was dead. Because of what Beca did to him.

She’d known it all along, of course, but for some reason now the realization, the full force of what she’d done slammed into her like a freight train.

_He was a human being just like you. He just wanted company_ , said her brain.

He tried to kill me and critically injured Chloe, Beca told herself furiously. I had a right to defend myself.

_You murdered another person_ , said her brain.

He’s a psycho who deserved to die after what he did to Chloe, Beca argued.

“Beca?”

She hadn’t even realized she’d slumped against a pile of boxes until Chloe’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts. “Beca? Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Wonderful,” said Beca quickly, pulling her face into the widest, most unnatural smile ever.

Chloe frowned. “What’s wrong?”

Beca figured Chloe had enough on her own plate without dealing with her having a mental breakdown. She’d tell Chloe later, once she was better. Once they were both better. “Nothing,” Beca said, as offhandedly as she could. “Just a bit tired. How are you feeling?”

Chloe’s face twisted in pain when she tried to sit up, and Beca immediately rushed over to help. “Do you think you could help me switch the bandages? They feel kind of gross.”

“Of course,” said Beca.

She tried not to make it obvious her hands were shaking the whole way through.

“Thanks,” breathed Chloe when Beca was finished cleaning the cut, which was looking better, but still scary. “When are we heading out?”

“We don’t have to leave today,” Beca said, taking in Chloe’s pale expression and the way her shoulders were hunched and how she hugged her stomach gingerly. It hurt to see Chloe in so much pain. “If you need more rest, take it.”

Chloe shook her head. “There’s no more time to waste. We have to find a town or city or _something_ soon. Don’t let me hold you back.”

“Chloe…you’d never hold me back.”

Chloe laughed bitterly. “I wish. I’m supposed to be the veteran here, I’ve got seven years of training on you. And now look at me, I’m only making you drag me through the dirt.”

Beca felt stunned by how distraught, upset, even _angry_ Chloe seemed to be with herself. “Hey,” she said as firmly as she could, so that Chloe looked up from the ground and met Beca’s eyes. Her breath momentarily left her, before she steeled herself again to keep talking. “Please don’t ever think you’re useless, you’ve saved my ass so many times on this quest alone. I’m _grateful_ that you’re here with me.”

Chloe continued to stare at her. Were those tears in her eyes?

“I’m not letting go of you that easily, either,” said Beca. And she said it with every ounce of sincerity she could muster.

Chloe pulled her into a hug.

They stayed like that for a long time, where Beca could feel her heart melting through her, and a few tears dropping lightly onto her shoulder. When Chloe let go, she looked defeated, yet determined at the same time.

“Let’s go,” she said, her voice hardly wavering at all.

Beca nodded. “Take your time to prepare anything you need. I’m going to snoop around this house and see if there’s anything we can bring with us.”

The sun rose while Beca tore open every last box that Jordan had stacked up into his shack home. Most of them were either empty or filled with dirt, which was _really_ weird, but Beca tossed them aside and kept searching.

She found a box containing what looked like most of Jordan’s clothes. She considered taking a few, since they were definitely cleaner than what she currently had on, but then thought better of it.

Eventually, after turning up with nothing useful, Beca returned to the box that Jordan kept all his food in and took everything. There wasn’t much left, a few pieces of dried meat, a couple of rolls of bread.

Jeez, did the kid survive for years on his own eating nothing but bread and jerky?

In the box beneath the food one, she found a few bottles of water, and stole all of those too.

Beca returned to where Chloe was resting and put the tiny bit of food she’d scrounged into her backpack. “Ready to go?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Chloe sighed, raising her arms towards Beca. She helped her up and together, with fingers interlocked, they made their way to the door and hobbled out of the house into the early morning light. Beca resolutely refused to look in the direction of the meadow behind them, where that terrible fight had taken place.

She and Chloe both took a deep breath, and then they started walking.

 

…

 

They spent nine long, tiring, grueling days traveling the remainder of the distance to Los Angeles.

 

…

 

On Thursday, the day that they’d finally left Jordan’s house, they mostly walked. Thankfully no monsters came to attack them, because Beca knew neither of them would have been able to take one on. They walked a bit, following the tracker, then rested a bit, then got up and kept walking. No other man-made structures or humans themselves ever appeared in sight.

Their tiny food supply was already half-gone.

 

…

 

On Friday, they successfully spent the morning walking without much interruption. In the afternoon, after having shared a meal of one roll of bread each, a hellhound came to visit them.

“Don’t use your powers,” Chloe had told Beca the previous day with concern in her eyes after Beca had tried to make it easier for Chloe to walk by partially levitating her, and had become dizzy right after. “You need rest.”

But now there was a big angry red-eyed dog in front of them and Beca’s sword was feeling unnaturally heavy in her hands. She got swatted aside by the hellhound’s paw – hadn’t she dodged that? No? – and then the monster went for Chloe.

It had probably smelled the wound on Chloe, because it was clearly trying to get a fang through her gut, and she was not doing a very good job of defending herself.

So Beca snapped and even though the words “don’t use your powers” echoed through her mind she did it anyways and threw the hellhound back with her telekinesis before it could sink its teeth into Chloe. She was able to get her blade through the beast’s neck and then she passed out straight on top of the pile of dust that was left afterwards.

She didn’t wake up until the evening. Chloe let her apologize profusely for thirty seconds before pulling her into a hug and kissing her temple. That shut Beca up pretty well.

But she didn’t stop feeling guilty until she fell asleep again later that night.

 

…

 

On Saturday, they ran out of food.

They’d even been rationing it, but there just hadn’t been enough to begin with. And they were still very much in the middle of nowhere.

Beca had tried to give her last bit of jerky to Chloe, but Chloe refused.

“You need it just as much as I do,” Chloe insisted.

_Not really_ , thought Beca.

Chloe’s mood steadily worsened as the day went on.

 

…

 

On Sunday around noon, they finally, _finally,_ stumbled into a tiny village. Chloe looked like she was barely conscious, swaying on her feet and leaning heavily on Beca just to stand up.

They found out that there were exactly two people in the village who owned functioning cars, and only one was actually willing to offer them a ride to the nearest city.

The first guy they’d went to looked offended when Beca asked if he could possibly drive them to the closest city around them. “What are you going to give me in return?” he had asked gruffly.

“What?” asked Beca.

“What will you give me? Will you pay for gas?”

“Um…we don’t really have any money…”

The guy told them no and to get out.

The second car owner was a nice old lady who said she’d be more than happy to help two poor, suffering beautiful girls get to their destination.

One hour later they found themselves in the city of Pecos, Texas.

Beca almost didn’t have the nerve to ask this kind stranger for more help – could she possibly buy them a little bit of food? After shooting a glance at Chloe, though, she just went out with the question.

The lady simply smiled at Beca and bought the two of them one sandwich each from a local shop. Beca thanked her several times, and then she got back in her car and drove away.

Beca wrapped her sandwich up in its packaging and stowed it away in Chloe’s backpack, then made sure that Chloe ate all of hers. Chloe looked at her questioningly, but Beca just told her to keep eating.

Later that night, Beca gave Chloe the remaining sandwich and refused to take it back when Chloe protested.

She didn’t protest much, though. Her exhaustion eventually won out.

 

…

 

On Monday, for the first time in her life, Beca went out and asked, basically begged people for money or food. She didn’t get much. Some spare change, a few light snacks.

She was able to pool enough cash together to get something bigger for Chloe, who only had enough energy remaining to half-heartedly mention that Beca needed to eat too.

By evening they were able to get a ride from someone who happened to be heading over into New Mexico for a business trip. They arrived in Carlsbad two hours later.

Chloe fell asleep on a bench outside and Beca watched over her.

_Keep pushing on for Chloe_ , she told herself repeatedly.

She wondered briefly, bitterly, if the gods were watching her and Chloe right now, wasting their energy away begging for rides from small city to city with no money, no food, and in Chloe’s case, a gigantic stab injury in her midsection.

Why couldn’t they send a little help?

Maybe they were watching them struggle, Beca thought. Maybe Hades was sitting on his regal throne in the Underworld, watching Beca and Chloe like they were his favorite television show, enjoying their slow journey to return _his_ stupid dog.

She thought about what Jesse would be up to at Camp Half-Blood. Did he ever think of her? Did Aubrey? Did Stacie? Beca wondered if they were sleeping yet.

A month ago Beca had been freaking out over her dismal school grades, complaining whenever Jesse had gotten near-perfect marks in Mythology. She remembered getting pissed off by Alice and her taunting, and how frustrating it was to try and study a massive textbook with words that just wouldn’t stay still.

All of that seemed like a joke now.

Chloe’s expression looked almost peaceful in sleep, unlike the dark look she’d begun to wear more often during the day.

 

…

 

On Tuesday they made their way across New Mexico and the western crook of Texas slowly. They got a ride to Whites City, then Pine Springs, then Cornudas, and finally, after the sun had long gone down, ended up in El Paso.

They hadn’t been able to get any food that day. Beca could ignore the pain in her stomach, but she couldn’t begin to imagine how Chloe must have been feeling.

They set up camp in a small field on the outskirts of the city, because it was big and busy and had a lot of sketchy people hanging around at night. Chloe sighed in Beca’s arms, and Beca held onto her more protectively.

“It’ll be over soon,” Beca whispered, and she couldn’t tell if she was saying it more to herself or more to Chloe.

 

…

 

On Wednesday they couldn’t find a ride further west. There was too much traffic and too many busy people. People on the streets eyed them suspiciously and then kept walking.

The tracker now displayed only two blinking lights – one had shut off sometime in between the Pecos River and El Paso.

They returned to their sleeping spot a little bit before sundown after an entire day of trying and failing to move on towards L.A., when it started raining.

It began pretty lightly, just a drizzle, and Beca and Chloe were able to stick through it initially. But then it started pouring down for real, and Chloe started shivering, although she was trying to hide it.

Beca felt numb in a lot of places, and they hadn’t had food for two days now, but she still raised her hand feebly in the air, and the rain began hitting an invisible block of air above Chloe.

Beca felt the energy slowly drain out of her, but she never let go. The rain bounced off her telekinetic forcefield of sorts and fell down around it.

Chloe slowly dried off, and then she stopped shivering.

Beca continued to get soaked. Spots danced in her vision. Her hand didn’t seem to be listening to her much anymore – why did it keep lowering itself?

When the rain finally ended maybe an hour later, Chloe crawled over to where Beca was sitting dumbly with her legs bent under her, and wrapped her in a close embrace. Beca was still wet but Chloe was dry and didn’t seem to mind. She was also warm and it seeped into Beca’s bones and she wrapped her hands around Chloe.

They fell asleep that night in each other’s arms.

 

…

 

On Thursday Beca had actually gotten enough money by late afternoon to buy two bus tickets as far as Tucson, Arizona. Most of it had been earned in desperation after Beca had started using her telekinesis on objects on the side of the road and people threw her money because “how the _hell_ did you do that?”

“Magic” was always her response and then they’d laugh because they thought she was joking. Honestly it all felt pretty pathetic.

At least she’d gotten enough for a trip pretty far west and not just one but two meals for Chloe. Beca tried to refuse the offered food, but her hunger made her cave in. She still tried to eat as little as possible so Chloe could get most of it.

Her wound was clearly bothering her a lot. These days Chloe always seemed to be wrapped up in her own thoughts, a kind of cold rage brewing inside her, and it scared Beca, even though she knew it wasn’t directed at her. She just hated seeing Chloe so down. Why would anyone cover Chloe, a bright ray of sunshine, with a dark thundercloud like that?

When they passed the border from New Mexico to Arizona, the tracker switched from two lights on to just one.

“We’re so close, Chloe,” Beca mumbled into Chloe’s hair, because she was asleep against her front.

 

…

 

On Friday Beca woke up from her spot in the secluded, forest-y space they’d found the night before and half-consciously noted that this was their ninth day out on their own.

She was admittedly a little bit impressed that she and Chloe had managed to make it so far, considering the current state both of them were in. But the way they had gone through to get here – with too many free hitchhiked rides, too many pennies given out of pity, too many days of endless traveling and nights of little sleep – it made Beca feel sick.

What else made her feel sick was that including today, they had only five days left to bring Cerberus back to Hades in the Underworld. The tracker was still blinking infuriatingly with that single light. They were so close to him.

When Chloe woke up an hour later they hit the streets again. Beca didn’t have enough energy left to pull her magician-levitation stunt again, so she just went around in a daze asking random strangers if they were heading to Phoenix anytime soon.

Turned out, someone was, and he was nice enough to bring them along for the two hour journey.

When they arrived in Phoenix, Beca found a twenty dollar bill on the ground and immediately spent five on a one-time entry fee to get into a nearby gym so they could shower for the first time in like a week. Beca helped Chloe redress her wound with bandages again. It had closed up by now, but clearly nine days of hitchhiking hadn’t done it any favors. Beca couldn’t help but notice that Chloe had refused to look at her the entire time.

After that they spent some in a Laundromat to wash their clothes. Beca actually began to feel a bit more like a normal human being, at least on the outside. On the inside she still felt like she’d been sledged with a hammer.

The rest of the money went to food and water.

They sat in the corner of a fast food restaurant together, on opposite sides from each other. Beca reached over to gently tug at Chloe’s hand, intertwining their fingers together. It had been a while since they’d done that.

And Chloe gave her a small smile. Oh man, it had been a while since Beca had seen _that_. It was nice, really nice, to see Chloe smile again.

“Five more days,” Beca said. “Five more days and then we can go home and go back to the way everything used to be again.”

Chloe nodded.

They went to Papago Park later in the day and sat down in a grassy field bordering a small pond not far from where they’d entered. It was hot at first, but after the sun set, the cool breeze felt great against their battered bodies. They sat there together, in the grass, just enjoying each other’s presence.

Beca thought about a lot of things, but one thing kept surfacing to the top of her mind.

_I really like Chloe_.

She knew it was probably kind of inappropriate to be thinking about stupid stuff like that while they were half-dying in the capital city of Arizona. And while these days Chloe perpetually looked like she’d just been run over by a truck.

_I really like her and I care a lot about her_.

Beca stared at the pond in front of her, like if she concentrated hard enough the incessant thought in her mind would fade away.

It didn’t.

_I hope she makes it out of all this okay._

_I hope she can be happy again._

_I hope…she knows how much she means to me._

Beca stared harder at the water, whose surface was broken only by the slight breeze washing ripples over it.

_I really like Chloe_.

They fell asleep side-by-side that night, lying on their backs in the same spot, staring up at the sky and the bright stars that dotted the vast expanse.

 

…

 

Beca was awoken by a rough fist to her side. She coughed, surprised, and shot to a sitting position, looking around her frantically.

It was still very deep into the night. When Beca had calmed down from being pulled so suddenly out of her sleep, she realized that Chloe had accidentally punched her.

She was tossing and turning, and her face was twisted in a desperate, panicked expression. “No…” she said weakly.

“Chloe?” Beca asked. “Chloe, wake up! Chloe?”

“Come back…” Chloe groaned.

“Chloe!” Her hands were glowing, which started freaking Beca out, because she was pretty sure that was just a thing that happened to her. “Chloe, wake up! You’re having a bad dream right now –”

Instinctively she grabbed one of Chloe’s hands, thinking that maybe if she held them the glowing would _stop_ – but as soon as their hands made contact, Beca felt like the ground had fallen out from underneath her, and she couldn’t let go anymore.

“Stop it,” mumbled Chloe.

Beca’s vision faded to black, her hand clamped tightly to Chloe’s.

 

…

 

Five year-old Chloe scampered across her apartment, with her mom chasing after her. Even though the living room was pretty tiny, and the entire apartment in general seemed pretty banged up and low quality, both of them had matching, carefree smiles on their faces.

Little Chloe dived behind the sofa, because she knew her mom was too big to follow her into the cramped space, and shouted, “Can’t get me now!”

“Oh yes I can,” her mom responded with a wide grin, and she reached one arm down to tickle Chloe in the stomach.

Chloe squealed and tried to dodge her mother’s insistent tickling. “Okay, okay, you win!” she said finally, and her mom pulled her out from the space. Chloe’s face was flush with excitement and happiness.

“Now you have to help me make dinner,” her mom said in a way that made it sound like a punishment, but they both knew that Chloe loved helping, or at least attempting to help, her mom in any way possible.

Later that night, after Chloe had dutifully packed away the leftovers into the refrigerator, the two sat on the couch, her mom reading a book, Chloe sitting in her lap and pretending to understand what the book was about. Even if she could get past the fact that the letters kept scrambling themselves, she was pretty sure she wouldn’t be able to recognize a single word.

“Mommy, can I tell you something?” Chloe asked suddenly.

“Of course, dear,” her mom replied, obviously sensing the unhappiness in her child’s voice.

“Um, today at school Pieter brought a really cool toy to school. He called it a Game Boy. He also has a skateboard and a bicycle and lots of games he can play every day on his Game Boy. How come he gets those things? Him and his friends. They are jerks but they get fun toys. How come we don’t have any fun toys?”

Her mom sighed and put the book down, wrapping her big arms around tiny Chloe. “I know we don’t have very many expensive, fancy things,” she said. “It is hard now. But just you wait a few more years. Your father will come visit very soon. He will bring us many presents. A new house! Imagine living up in the clouds, in the biggest and prettiest castle you can ever think of. Where everyone will love us and treat us nicely and we could have lots of friends.”

“Wow,” said Chloe. “That sounds cool!”

“I know, honey, I know,” said her mom, leaning over and giving Chloe a loving kiss on the cheek. “It will all come soon, I promise you.”

 

Six year-old Chloe came home crying one day because Pieter and his friends had taken her brand new pencil pouch and hid it somewhere in the school, only because they thought it was funny. She still hadn’t found it, even with the help of several of her teachers.

“It is _not_ funny,” Chloe said in between her hiccups and her tears, as she sat in one of two seats in their kitchen while her mom baked her cookies to cheer her up. “Pieter is so mean to me. It’s not fair.”

“You’re right, dear,” said her mom, glancing up from where she was crouching by the oven to glance sadly at her daughter. “Some people are just naturally mean. We can only hope that they will get what they deserve in the end.”

After a slight pause, Chloe asked, “Will dad really come for us and take us away?”

Chloe was still too young to pay attention to the way her mom’s shoulders tensed, the way she held her breath uncertainly before letting it out. All she heard was her mom reply, “Yes. Of course he will. He loves us. He loves you.”

They took the cookies outside onto the balcony because it was nice out and the sun was shining bright as it began its slow descent to the horizon. Chloe only ate a few, knowing that dinner was coming soon after sundown and she didn’t want to get full off of only cookies.

The sun inched its way closer and closer down the sky.

“Why did dad leave us?” Chloe asked.

“He never left,” her mom replied, taking Chloe’s small arms in her own. She lifted one up to point at the sun, which was finally setting, dipping its way below the horizon and sending streaks of red and purple through the sky. “See that? That’s your father, saying goodbye to you. He will come back tomorrow to greet you good morning, and then watch over you during the day. He’s with us all the time.”

“Oh,” said Chloe, staring out onto the sunset, mesmerized by the explanation. “Well, then, bye-bye, dad. Please come back tomorrow.” She waved.

The sun disappeared. Her mom hugged her tightly, and then they went back inside to prepare dinner.

 

Eight year-old Chloe tried to explain, once, to her best friend how the sun was her dad and how happy she was that he came to visit every day, and her friend had laughed at her.

She never told anyone again.

Her mom lost her job, the apartment became messier, food became rarer, life became harder.

“Soon,” she’d say every day. “We will get a happy ending soon.”

Chloe flopped onto the couch and tried to do her math homework. The numbers weren’t cooperating with her and kept dancing around her pencil every time she tried to add or subtract them together.

More recently her mom had started saying things like, “He promised us. He promised _me_ ,” and “He didn’t forget about us, honey. I guess it just takes time.”

Chloe tumbled off the couch and onto the ground with a groan. She was jittery and frustrated and now even her _math homework_ was being mean to her, so she didn’t want to finish it. Maybe she’d go have a talk with her mom about how…sad she felt recently.

Except when she crept to her mom’s room, where the door was suspiciously closed, she heard her mom say, “What are you doing here?”

For a split second, Chloe was terrified that somehow her mom had seen her snooping through the door and was talking to _her_ , but then a man’s voice responded, shakily, “Hello to you too, my dear.”

Who was that?

“Are you here to…to save us?”

“I…honey, you don’t understand how much I want to help, but I really can’t.”

“Why not?”

Her mom sounded angry. Chloe began to panic. Was she supposed to go in and stop this mysterious person from making her mom angry? She was frozen to the spot in fear anyway, so she couldn’t move even if she wanted to.

“You never came and visited,” her mom was saying. Great. Now her mom’s voice was shaking too. “It’s been years and my baby Chloe – _our_ baby Chloe – she’s eight years old now. Do you understand how hard it is for us?”

“Look, I don’t think you understand, I physically can’t! Firstly because I am so busy with my daily tasks, I try so hard to carve out time for my children but I just can’t. And not to mention Zeus doesn’t appreciate it when we…favor our kids over another. I really, really want to help you.”

“It sure doesn’t seem like it! You promised me, a decade ago, that you’d bring me up to Olympus, and we could live a happy life together, a safe place for Chloe to grow up. You…you can’t just leave me _hanging_.”

“I’m truly sorry. I really am. If I could do anything to help you, I would, really –”

“Then why aren’t you? In fact, why did you even come here tonight in the first place? What was the point, to bring my hopes up, and then crush them? Do I even mean _anything_ to you?”

The fight began to escalate, and the two adults started using words that Chloe still didn’t quite understand yet. They started yelling at each other. There was a lot of crying, mostly from her mom.

After what felt like an eternity of horror and pain and tears, she heard a pop in the room, and then a thump on the ground, and then a bunch of sobbing. Chloe finally screwed up the courage to open the door and go into the room.

Her mom was alone, kneeling on the ground, her face in her hands. There was no man in sight.

“Mom…?” Chloe asked tentatively.

And just like that, her mom stopped crying and spun around, staring at Chloe with such intensity that she backed away.

“Please don’t come in here tonight, baby,” she said in a wavering voice. “Just…just stay by yourself for a while, okay?”

“Mom…are you okay?” Chloe asked, eyes wide. She’d never seen her mom cry before. Now it was just making _her_ want to cry.

“Chloe,” her mom said in a stronger tone. “Please. Go, now.”

Chloe turned on her heels, confused, and raced for her own room, closing the door behind her and crashing onto her bed with tears streaming down her face.

 

Her mom fell into depression.

That’s what they learned at school and Chloe figured that’s what her mom had.

They were poorer than ever. Sometimes all Chloe wanted to do was go and spend time with her friends to get away from everything that seemed to be falling apart around her, but when she asked her mom, she’d burst into tears and beg Chloe not to leave her.

“Please don’t go,” she would whisper, clutching the front of Chloe’s shirt. “Please don’t leave me here alone. I already lost enough.”

At first it was okay. Heartbreaking, but Chloe could keep up with it. She started learning how to cook and do the laundry without any help, because her mom had stopped doing that.

Eventually every morning when Chloe went to school her mom would be there, begging her not to leave.

No matter how many times Chloe tried to explain that she’d be coming back in a few hours, her mom just didn’t seem to get it.

“I’m not leaving you forever, mom,” Chloe said, struggling to fight the tears from her eyes, because she just couldn’t bear the sight of seeing her own mother on the verge of crying.

“You don’t know that,” said her mom.

By the time Chloe was eleven her mom had stopped taking care of herself altogether.

Chloe cooked the food, but her mom provided the groceries.

And if Chloe ever left her mom, there would be no more groceries. Unfortunately, her mom's definition of Chloe leaving her included the period of time during the day when Chloe had to go to class.

She started coming home from school to an empty refrigerator.

At first Chloe tried to cope by taking food from her best friends at lunch during school. They were the greatest friends ever, most of them starting bringing extra portions for her to sneak home so she could have dinner and breakfast too.

Then Chloe got caught.

Two months later and Chloe dropped out of school.

 

Her mom started being mean to her.

But she couldn’t just leave, because if Chloe left, then her mom would cry, forever and ever and ever.

She hardly ever let Chloe out of her sight because she didn’t want to lose her – but whenever they were in the same room together her mom started being mean to her.

Kind of _really_ mean.

It hurt a lot. Both physically and emotionally.

Chloe had been harboring these angry thoughts for a long time, but then one day they just suddenly overflowed and exploded.

She packed a couple of things into her school backpack and tried to sneak out of the house.

Her mom caught her, and she was angry at first.

But once it was clear that Chloe was actually leaving, officially, once and for all, she broke down.

“Don’t do this to me,” her mom said. “You are the only thing that makes me happy. Please don’t leave.”

Chloe almost gave in, but she knew that if she did, she’d just be dragged back in. Her mom would keep being mean to her.

So Chloe turned and slammed the door shut. And she started running.

 

Two weeks later a nice boy named Tom found her on the streets.

Two weeks after _that_ Chloe found out that Tom wasn’t actually a boy at all, he was something called a satyr, and he told her all about the Greek gods and how he was taking her to a special camp.

She found out she was half-god, and arrived at Camp Half-Blood at the end of May.

 

Three days after arriving at camp her dad claimed her.

Apollo.

Her newest best friend Aubrey cheered her on along with the rest of the campers, but Chloe felt nothing.

 

She spent half of her first summer at camp being mopey, until Aubrey scolded her and they had a long, long conversation. Chloe resolved to never be like her mother, to never be like her father, Apollo. She would be nice to everyone and make them happy and _not_ let them down, like her dad did. And if they didn’t like her, so what. She’d let them go, unlike her mom.

Her parents made her feel _unloved_. It was such a terrible feeling, that Chloe promised herself to make sure _she_ never made anyone feel unloved.

She made a lot of friends the rest of summer, everyone loved her, and she was happy.

 

Two summers after that, when Chloe had just turned fourteen, Apollo showed up at camp.

Chloe had been sitting by herself on the edge of the lake, when she heard movement behind her.

She’d never seen the guy before, but she knew instantly that he was her father.

What was most unnerving was the fact that he looked like a typical teenager surfer dude – messy blond hair, blue eyes, strong body. He looked so young, and his expression was so scared, Chloe almost felt bad for him.

Almost.

It was weird, seeing him in real life now, when throughout her entire childhood she'd spent so much time looking out onto the sunset, wishing her dad could at least  _visit_ her, even just once. Now that he had actually appeared in front of her, she wanted nothing more than for him to go away and leave her alone.

“I’m sorry,” were the first words out of his mouth.

“Thanks,” were the first words out of Chloe’s.

She turned and left him. Apollo didn’t follow her.

 

When Chloe was sixteen and halfway through her sixth summer at Camp Half-Blood she found out her mom had died of illness alone in their old apartment.

When Aubrey told her this, Chloe bluntly responded that she didn’t care.

She cried a lot in her bunk that night.

 

Chloe didn’t think about her past if she could help it. It only hindered her progress to move forward, and she refused to let her parentage pull her down.

She had like a million friends at camp, and everyone treated her like true friends would. She was happy enough, really.

 

…

 

Beca felt another lurch and her eyes flew open. She shook herself, gasping like she’d just resurfaced from underwater. Her hand was clammy and sweaty and clutched tightly to Chloe’s.

“Holy shit,” Beca said, completely shocked and overwhelmed. Chloe was looking up at her, looking equally as mortified. “Chloe – what was that –”

“ _No_ ,” said Chloe. Her chest was heaving. Beca could almost hear the gears spinning wildly in her mind. “ _No way_. Did you just…did you see all of…”

Beca nodded, slowly, cautiously. She felt like she’d trespassed onto dangerous, private territory, and she was terrified of scaring Chloe off. “Chloe –”

“No,” Chloe said again, and then she seemed to realize that they were still touching. She wrenched her hand out of Beca’s grip, scrambling to stand up. She stumbled several times before hauling herself to her feet. “No, no, no.”

“Chloe!” Beca cried.

Chloe looked torn, standing there, obviously deciding what she was supposed to do now. She looked like she was on the verge of hyperventilating, clenching and unclenching her hands repeatedly. There was so much hurt in her eyes.

Beca reached out to her, but Chloe was already running, running away, disappearing into the darkness of the night.


	12. The Final Stretch is Near

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have decided i will make a harder attempt at replying to comments...because i suck at that lol
> 
> Also thanks everyone to who's been reading this! It means a ton!
> 
> Have some more:

Beca didn’t chase after Chloe immediately.

Partly because she knew Chloe would want some time to herself to calm down, partly because she was so stunned that she could only sit there on the grass, motionless, flashes of what she’d just seen whirling through her mind.

It was still very dark out, with the waxing moon hanging high in the sky above. The night air was warm, but not uncomfortable, and quiet save for the occasional breeze rustling the grass and the ever-present sound of crickets chirping.

Beca wondered briefly what the odds of someone walking up on them were. Then she figured that she’d instantly pick a fight with anyone who tried to bother Chloe before she was ready.

Then again, they _had_ kind of fallen asleep in the middle of a field of a public park. There probably weren’t that many people lurking around anymore, not at two in the morning.

 _Chloe_. Her brain flitted back to Chloe, and Beca felt a pang of worry hit her in the gut. Was she supposed to go and find her now? She was still rooted to the spot, unsure of what to do. She wanted to help Chloe so bad, but what could she do?

Eventually Beca decided that she couldn’t wait too long. She wanted to give Chloe the space she needed, but she also didn’t want to risk her getting lost.

She tried her best to count the agonizingly slow seconds that ticked by. After losing track three times, she figured enough time had passed and she needed to find Chloe again soon, so she stood up, dusting the dirt off her clothes and starting off in the direction that Chloe had fled.

Beca’s entire body was weighed down with fatigue. It’d been a rough journey recently, and not only did Chloe get critically injured, she’d had to relive the memories of her childhood. But why had she gotten the nightmare now? And more importantly, how had Beca been able to see it?

She found Chloe sitting in the dead center of a valley between a couple gentle hills, her back to Beca, hugging her knees close to her chest. Even from her position Beca could tell that Chloe was still shaking a little.

Beca wanted to sprint over and tackle Chloe in a hug until the pain went away, but she forced herself to take careful steps one at a time, making sure she was loud enough so that Chloe could hear her approaching.

“Hey,” said Beca tentatively, once she was a couple feet behind Chloe, and she took it as a good sign when Chloe didn’t jump. She only burrowed into herself a little deeper.

“Hello,” Chloe answered in a small voice.

Beca moved around to Chloe’s front and sat down a few feet away, facing her with her legs crossed. Chloe’s eyes followed her as she moved.

She didn’t know what to say. Neither, apparently, did Chloe. So they sat there, holding each other’s gazes, letting the coolness of the night wash over them.

“That really sucks,” Beca offered, lamely.

Chloe shrugged. “I…try not to think about it.”

“Does it…does it happen often?”

“Not really,” said Chloe, her gaze falling to the ground, to the clump of grass at her feet. “Right after…well, you know. You saw it. My first year at camp I had nightmares a lot. I think…eventually it just dulled with time.”

“Oh.” Beca shuffled a little closer, trying to figure out how to comfort Chloe. She really wanted to, but she was kind of clueless. “I…um.”

“Yeah,” agreed Chloe. “It’s okay. It’s been a few years since the last time.”

Beca reached forward and gently put her hands on Chloe’s, where she’d been hugging her knees tightly to her chest. When Chloe didn’t resist, she brought their hands down by their sides. Chloe’s shoulders slumped. “How come it came back again now?” Beca asked softly.

“I don’t know. I think it’s because what’s been happening recently, it reminded me of the way things used to be.”

The way things used to be, as in lack of food? The basically constant pain? Beca couldn’t believe how much Chloe had gone through on this quest alone, on top of everything that had happened when she was little. None of this was supposed to have happened. They were supposed to have successfully taken a train ride all the way to California like over a week ago and then found Cerberus with several days to spare. The quest should have been relatively simple.

Chloe should have been able to catch a break.

And yet when Beca had first showed up to Camp Half-Blood a month ago, she never would have guessed that Chloe shouldered so much pain behind her cheerful exterior. She was nice and polite and happy with everyone. Everyone loved her. It was admirable even, how she refused to be anything but friendly with others, knowing firsthand what it felt like to be taken advantage of, or neglected.

Leave it to Chloe to make sure no one felt the way she’d had to.

What an amazing person, Beca thought, like she hadn’t entertained the thought so many times in the past. But now it seemed to carry a new meaning to it.

They sat like that for what could have been just a few minutes, or an entire hour. Beca didn’t know and didn’t care. She probably would’ve willingly sat with Chloe for a thousand years, doing nothing but silently, reassuringly rubbing slow circles on her hands with her thumbs, if it meant Chloe could be happy again.

When Chloe finally spoke again, her tone was a little resigned, but resolved. A little shy. A little asking for help, for a friend.

“Can I tell you something?”

“Of course,” said Beca, giving Chloe’s hands a gentle squeeze.

Chloe sighed and stared at the ground a little longer, seemingly composing her thoughts. And then she began to speak.

“My mom was such a nice person. She was bright, cheerful, and she always somehow managed to find happiness in rough times. It’s no surprise, really, that the god of the sun would fall for someone like her. Anyone would.”

Beca could understand that. If Chloe’s mom was as loving as Chloe herself was, then obviously she’d be able to attract the attention of an immortal being.

“I never met him when I was little, because he was gone before I was born. But the way she talked about him to me…I loved him too. I believed in him, I really thought he’d show up one day and fix our lives. That’s what he promised. He hated seeing my mom go through so many hardships, to work so hard for so little, and she never really complained about it. Not out loud, at least. He told her he could make everything better. He offered to build a palace for us on Mount Olympus. He…he promised to come back for us when the time was ready.”

Chloe looked up and her eyes met Beca’s and Beca felt her insides slowly crumbling into mush. She saw the pain in Chloe’s eyes, but she also saw the determination, the trust.

Her heart was going to blow up, probably.

“Well, obviously, that never happened. It destroyed my mom. She went from the nicest lady in the entire world to someone who never left the house, never left her room really. She sat on her bed and cried sometimes, but mostly she just stared at the wall, wondering where she’d gone wrong. And I felt so bad for her. She never went outside, because she didn’t want to see the sun, so she got really thin and pale. I hated my dad so much for doing this to her. He promised to make my mom’s life better and instead he ruined it.”

For some reason Beca’s mind decided to drift back to the day she and Chloe had first met, when Chloe was giving Beca the tour of Camp Half-Blood and trying to convince her that she really was part god. She remembered how casually Chloe had responded when she asked her who her godly parent was.

 _My dad’s Apollo_.

She remembered the smile that came with the statement. Beca never would’ve guessed in a million years what the guy had done to Chloe and her mom. Anger and annoyance flared up inside her.

“He tried to apologize, fourteen years later than he should have. He found me by the lake at camp. I ditched him. For the next week he tried to leave me little presents…I could tell it was him. He’d put like…a yellow flower on my pillow or a send a bird to sing my favorite songs next to me at dinnertime. One night it was capture the flag day, and I could feel him controlling my bow aim. I’m only good at archery now because I’ve been practicing for seven years. Back then I wasn’t very good at all, yet that night I hit every single target dead center until I just dropped the bow and stopped fighting. I think I’m supposed to be grateful that he tried so hard to get my attention. But I don’t want his stupid apologies. Not anymore.”

“Oh,” said Beca, when Chloe had gone silent for a while. “Wow. He…treated you guys pretty badly.”

“Not really,” said Chloe, “he just didn’t give a rat’s fart about us, not until it was too late. I mean, I’m not that affected because I grew up without him in my life. But my mom was devastated. Imagine how much you would have to love someone, to not give up on them for eight years even though everything clearly showed that they were going to break their promise.”

“Oh,” said Beca again. She felt stupid for not having more to contribute. But she also didn’t know what else to say. She wished she could just give Chloe her heart, as stupid as that sounded, give her the love she deserved.

“That doesn’t give my mom an excuse to treat me like that, though,” Chloe said, and her expression turned sour. “She knew I felt bad for her so whenever I wanted to do something by myself, she tried to get me to stay by pity. Begged and cried and followed me all the way to the door. And you know me…I can’t…I _had_ to make her happy, or at least give her what little happiness I could.”

“But eventually you stood up for yourself,” said Beca tentatively.

“I guess I did,” said Chloe, sighing. “I finally screwed up the courage to run away. It was hard at first, but I think, in the end…I’m glad I did.”

She shook her head a little, squeezing Beca’s hands slightly as if she were seeking support. Beca gave it to her. She squeezed back.

I’m here for you, thought Beca.

“I don’t think I hate my mom. I just hate the person she became. I hate the things she did and said once I was alone with her…again. Beca…I just, when I like someone, I like them with my whole heart. I put all my trust into them. I know I shouldn’t, but that’s just who I am, I can’t help it. So…when someone turns that against me, when they try to use it for their own gain…I can’t forgive them, no matter how much they mean to me. It just hurts, so, so much.” Chloe laughed bitterly. “So in case you were wondering why I tried to kill Jordan the second he said ‘why can’t you stay with me’, well…that’s why. It reminded me too much of the things my mom would say to me. And then hurt me once I gave in.”

Oh. That made so much sense. Beca was suddenly not so guilty that she’d ended Jordan’s life that night in Texas. Anyone who hurt Chloe like that should automatically be given a one-way ticket to the Underworld. “Well then, I’m glad he’s dead,” Beca said, probably more passionately than she should have, because Chloe looked up at her in surprise as she got up to her knees, scooting closer to Chloe. “I mean…you’re like the greatest person I’ve ever met, Chloe. I can’t believe people would dare hurt you like this. You deserve so much better.”

Beca moved forward to wrap her arms around Chloe, and Chloe lowered her legs so Beca could scoot over and perch comfortably on her lap, and they hugged. Beca tried to pour all her feelings into the hug, and maybe Chloe understood, because she hugged back just as tightly.

She remembered that night on the train to Atlanta. It was less than two weeks ago, but it seemed like ages had passed since then. _What’s your mom like?_ Beca had asked Chloe.

She should have known. When Chloe had stiffened like that, told her it was better that her mom was dead.

It made Beca think of her own dad.

He and Hecate had fallen in love, and they’d had Beca. Her dad had told her the first time she noticed that other kids had mommies and she didn’t, that her mom had died in an accident.

There were no photos of her in the house, and he never talked about her, he never seemed sad. Beca hadn’t questioned it because she was too little to understand, and when she got older, she kind of grew apart from her dad anyway.

At least he seemed to understand that Hecate was a goddess, and couldn’t stick around to take care of Beca. He took it well, even when Beca didn’t warm up to his care that often.

She also wondered if she’d ever get to meet Hecate. A twinge of annoyance flickered inside of her. Apollo had at least eventually tried to make the effort once to visit his daughter. Beca had still heard nothing, ever, from her mother.

But then again, Hecate was the one who agreed to shroud her in Mist, whatever that meant. No monsters had ever attacked her, not until a couple months ago. That was all because of her mom.

“Thank you, Beca,” Chloe said into her shirt. “Thank you for listening to me.”

“You can tell me anything, anytime,” said Beca. “I’ll always be here for you.”

They pulled away, but stayed close enough so they could keep holding hands. “I’m sorry I’ve been so angry and broody recently,” said Chloe, a bit sheepishly. “I don’t respond well to intense hunger. Especially not when I’m…in pain. Bad memories, you know.”

“Hey, it’s totally okay,” Beca said. “You put up with me when I get mad all the time, the least I can do is the same for you.” She really wanted to hug Chloe again. Maybe if she hugged her enough Chloe would be able to feel the fiery protection for her burning inside of Beca.

So she hugged her again.

“I just have one question,” said Beca when they broke apart.

“Yes?” asked Chloe.

“How was I able to see your…dream? Was that supposed to happen?”

“I don’t know,” Chloe admitted. “No one’s ever uh, seen it. Besides me. My siblings have had to wake me up a couple times. Aubrey did it twice. But…I mean, I could tell that you were there with me, for some reason. I never felt that with anyone else.”

“Huh,” said Beca. “Your hands were kind of glowing. When I touched them I passed out.”

“That’s weird,” agreed Chloe.

“Whatever. It’s probably because I’m a kickass daughter of Hecate with cool, random magical powers, right?” Beca said, poking Chloe’s shoulder playfully.

Chloe smiled faintly. “You’re a nerd.”

“I just wanna see you happy,” said Beca. Wow, the words were really spilling uncontrollably out of her tonight. But it was probably fine, as long as Chloe kept smiling like _that_. Like she was finally at peace with herself, after a long period of grueling hardship.

“But seriously, thank you,” said Chloe again. Her eyes stared deep into Beca’s, piercing her heart and making her pulse quicken. “In a way, I’m kind of glad you snooped on my nightmare. I feel like I’ve gotten a huge weight off my chest.”

 _Stop staring at her lips!_ Beca’s brain yelled at her.

“Um, yes,” said Beca stupidly.

Chloe just laughed.

_Stop. No. Look at her eyes, you idiot!_

They were both still severely lacking in energy and strength. Beca’s brain was still feeling overcooked by three hundred years from excessive telekinesis use, and Chloe still had that giant hole in her body. _And_ she’d just had a terrible nightmare about her past, that Beca had unintentionally gotten sucked into, and they were both probably still trying to process everything that had just happened.

Beca tried to stifle a yawn. Chloe unfortunately noticed and said immediately, “Go sleep. I’ve already kept you up long enough.”

“You say it like that’s a bad thing,” said Beca. “Um, but really. Thanks. For sharing this with me.”

“Thanks for listening,” said Chloe softly.

They passed out together on the grass again.

 

…

 

Beca awoke the next day because she heard a group of people off in the distance making a lot of noise. Chloe looked so peaceful in her sleep that Beca almost regretted having to wake her up. But the sun was already high in the sky, and they had four days left to get to L.A., and they were still in Arizona, and if someone walked up on them they might have thrown them out for loitering or something.

“Hello,” said Chloe sleepily.

“Hey,” said Beca, grinning down at her. “As much as I want to stay here and regain all our lost energy, we have business to attend to.”

“Okay.” Chloe reached out for Beca with both arms, and they pulled each other to their feet. Chloe suddenly giggled.

“What?” Beca asked.

“There’s grass all over your butt,” she said, reaching out and running her hand down Beca’s entire backside. Beca tried to ignore the small shivers that ran through her body at the touch. “Is there any on mine?”

“Tons,” replied Beca, and she spun Chloe around to do the same thing to her. Beca thought she might have caught Chloe sighing contentedly as she dusted the grass off her back.

They made their way back to the entrance of Papago Park. Somewhere along the way they’d ended up holding hands again.

Beca took in a deep breath. “Final push,” she told Chloe. “We can do this.”

The rest of the day was spent in Phoenix, trying to find a ride so they could finally cross into California. But by sundown they’d only gotten as far as the Colorado River on the border.

 There, they were not-so-pleasantly ambushed by a sea monster.

Even though Beca wasn’t really in optimal fighting shape, the break they’d taken in Phoenix, however brief, was enough for her to at least be able to put up with the giant green serpent.

The thing took its tail and slammed the edge of the riverbank, and Beca had to push Chloe back to prevent her from getting trampled into a pancake. Water and dirt flew into the air. Beca sidestepped the sea serpent’s lunge and brought up her hands to shield Chloe from the onslaught of debris with her telekinesis.

Then she felt something slipping from her pocket.

“Wha–?” Beca began, confused. She craned her neck to see Chloe pulling out her cylinder from her pocket. “Chloe, what are you…”

Chloe stepped back and leveled the sea serpent with a calculated stare. Then she threw the cylinder straight at the beast, pressing the button on the end as it left her hand.

The cylinder sailed straight for the serpent’s neck, extending into a full two-foot bronze blade as it cut through the air, mid-flight. The sword sliced through the monster and chopped its head off clean. It collapsed into dust as it crashed into the water, its essence pulled apart and dissipated by the current. Beca’s sword clattered to the ground on the other side of the river.

“What the hell,” said Beca, thoroughly impressed. “That was sick.”

“Thanks,” said Chloe with a huge smile.

Beca levitated the sword back into her hand, retracted it back into a cylinder, and pocketed it. “Now we must go onward.”

After a little bit more effort and failure to get another ride, they decided to call it a day and took shelter in a nearby forest.

That night Beca fed Chloe some more ambrosia when her stomach wound started acting up again, and held her close when she confessed that she was a bit scared to fall asleep. Beca wrapped her arms around Chloe and rubbed comforting circles on her back, and eventually Chloe drifted off peacefully, her head resting in the crook of Beca's neck.

Beca was actually kind of uncomfortable sitting in that position with her back stiff and Chloe leaning all her weight on her, but she didn't budge at all, so Chloe could get as much rest as possible without being roused.

The day after that, they could only get as far as Palm Desert, California. But nice people offered to donate a bit of cash to them, so at least they didn’t go hungry.

Halfway through the third day they bumped into a young businessman who was heading for a meeting in Los Angeles, and didn’t really care if Beca and Chloe tagged along in the backseat, so long as they didn’t get dirt on his fancy car.

However, when they drove into Pomona about forty-five minutes away from L.A., the Cerberus tracker abruptly changed so that it was pointing south. Or, rather, it had been slowly rotating from west to south ever since they’d made it into California, but now was the first time either of them had noticed.

“Hey, Mr. Businessman?” Chloe asked tentatively.

The guy grunted to show he was listening, not taking his eyes off the road.

“Do you think you could, uh, go south for a little while?”

“What?”

“Like, turn left sometime. Maybe like, down to Santa Ana?”

The guy grunted again. “That’s going to cost me an extra hour, missy. Got a good reason why?”

“We’re trying to prevent world destruction,” Beca couldn’t help blurting out. Chloe elbowed her in the ribs.

“We really don’t mean to inconvenience you, sir,” said Chloe. “If it’s too much of a hassle you can just drop us off at the nearest city now. It would just really mean a lot to us if you could help us get to our destination.”

The guy seemed to consider it for a while. Then he sighed. “The meeting doesn’t start until tomorrow,” he reasoned. “Alright, I’ll take you south.”

“Thank you, sir,” said Chloe earnestly.

It turned out that they didn’t have to go all the way down to Santa Ana. As the guy drove them through Anaheim, the single light remaining on the tracker shut off, and the device started beeping. Chloe shoved the cube into her backpack to muffle the sound. Beca locked eyes with her, feeling a jolt of excitement shoot through her veins. They’d finally made it! Cerberus was right around the corner.

“This is our stop,” Chloe said to their driver. He nodded and searched for a place along the road to pull over. “Thank you so much for giving us a ride, sir. You’ve helped us so much.” Chloe flashed him a brilliant, grateful smile when he stopped the car and glanced at them in the backseat. He blushed a little and returned with a small smile of his own.

“Take care of yourselves,” he said as Chloe opened the door and climbed out, reaching a hand in to pull Beca with her.

Chloe waved to him as he pulled away, then turned back to Beca, barely able to contain her joy. They could still hear the tracker beeping away, slowly but incessantly, in Chloe’s backpack.

“He’s here,” Chloe said, putting her hands Beca’s shoulders and resting her forehead on Beca’s. “We’re here. We made it.”

“We did,” Beca agreed, trying to ignore how close they were standing to each other. “And we have one and a half days to get him to Hades…so…”

“We should find Cerberus,” Chloe said.

“Yes,” said Beca. Why was her brain short circuiting now? “Let’s do that.”

Chloe smiled and grabbed Beca by the wrist, leading her along the fairly empty streets as the sun made its way down the sky. Beca tried not to notice or be disappointed by the sudden change in proximity. They had a quest to finish, dammit.

They followed the tracker to an open field surrounded by trees. When they reached the center of the clearing, the compass began spinning wildly. They were right on top of Cerberus.

Chloe pocketed the tracker, a little bit uneasy. “This is where he should be,” she said worriedly. “But I don’t see him anywhere.”

Beca was confused as well. Was the tracker being faulty?

Then something on the ground caught her eye.

“Hey, wait,” she said, kneeling down onto the grass. She pushed aside a clump of dirt to reveal a smooth rock face embedded into the ground. When she had moved enough foliage and grass aside, they could both see that the shiny light grey-blue surface wasn’t a natural structure.

“There's a handprint,” said Chloe, who had sat down beside Beca with a little bit of effort, hand gripping her stomach. She pointed at the faint outline on the surface. “Look.”

“You’re right,” said Beca. “Maybe the thief is keeping Cerberus trapped underground.”

She reached out to put her hand on the pulsing print, her heart beating rapidly in her chest.

This was it. The quest was almost over.

“Nice meeting you here.”

Oh no.

“I see you’ve made it this far already. I can’t let you go further.”

Beca turned around slowly.

“You?” she said, surprised, because she had definitely _not_ expected to see who was standing behind them, partially engulfed by shadows from the light of the dying sun. But it was easy enough for Beca to recognize the person. Short, with a dark mop of hair and a cool and collected, but also determined expression on his face. Fairly young.

Chloe looked confused, like she couldn’t believe this kid was the thief either.

“You’re the guy that took my bunk in the Hermes cabin after I got claimed,” said Beca.

“I am,” said John Smith, the fourteen year-old kid who’d shown up at camp a couple days after Beca had. “And now I am here to stop you from completing your quest.”


	13. Justice with a side of DIE, JERK, DIE!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so when did i sneeze and accidentally write more than 70,000 words for this thing
> 
> ???But thanks everyone who's been reading this?? lol??? seriously tho? you guys rock!

Beca was so surprised, the only thing she could get out was, “What?”

John rolled his eyes. “I get it, you’re surprised it was me. Who were you even expecting?”

“I…don’t know,” said Beca hesitantly. She really didn’t know who she’d been expecting to be the thief. “I guess, someone with more…experience?”

John snorted. “I have plenty of experience. I don’t need a camp to train in. Why do you think I followed you to Camp Half-Blood?”

“Wait.” Sudden thoughts and realizations whirled through Beca’s mind. She had to pause and try and sort them through. “You…You showed up at camp to keep an eye on me?”

“Well, duh,” John said. “You made it safely to a place where Hades couldn’t kill you, not with Chiron and a hundred other demigods around. So I had to get you to leave again.”

“You…” said Beca, probably stupidly. Chloe had gotten to her feet beside Beca, and now she was tugging on Beca’s hand, trying to get her to stand up as well. “Did you send the hellhounds after me? And…you summoned the Chimera into camp? Is that what it was, you were trying to get me back out so Hades could have another shot at me?”

“Well. Any hellhounds you encountered were most likely a present from Hades. But you were supposed to die completely clueless and unknowing of the godly world. And then Hecate was supposed to get pissed and start a war with Hades. But you made it to camp safely, yes. So I had no choice but to summon the Chimera, to drive you out before you figured out your parentage.” John grimaced. “Obviously, that didn’t really work. Hades actually gave you a second chance.”

“You stole the compass from Demeter,” said Beca. “And then put the Colchian dragon in Atlanta to slow us down.”

“I did,” confirmed John, who appeared to be enjoying listening to Beca finally realize the extent of what he’d done. He certainly seemed more than happy to keep the conversation going. “Once I realized that you had three whole weeks to find where I’m keeping Cerberus captive I slipped out of camp. No one noticed, because no one notices the quiet, antisocial unclaimed kid in the back of the cabin.”

They noticed me, thought Beca.

“Why?” asked Chloe, which was the first time she spoke since John had popped up and interrupted their quest. “You literally stole Cerberus, and then blamed it on Beca, trying to get her killed. What’s your point? Don’t you even care about the consequences your actions?”

“Not really,” said John, shrugging.

Chloe looked like she was about to step forward and slam John into a human pancake, but Beca jerked her back. He wasn’t hurting them while he was spouting off about all his impressive achievements, and Beca figured that if the scrawny guy could somehow fool Hades, Lord of the Underworld, he probably packed a lot of punch. It was therefore in their best interest to make John talk as much as possible.

“How’d you even steal Cerberus?” Beca asked. “Isn’t that supposed to be like, impossible?”

She knew she was laying on the indirect flattery pretty thick, but thankfully John seemed to eat it all up.

“It was tough, yeah,” he said, “but I have some powers. My dad’s been helping me train and get better at using them. It was easy to disguise myself in front of Hades so he couldn’t tell who I was. Then I just fed him the exact same crap that Hercules told him when he was asking for Cerberus, and he fell for it again. I can’t believe gods can be so stupid and careless.”

“Um, who is your dad, exactly?” asked Beca.

“Orcus,” said John.

Beca didn’t recognize the name.

But apparently Chloe did. “That’s a Roman god.”

“No shit,” said John.

Beca felt anger flare up in her at John’s patronizing tone, but she forced herself to relax. She had to figure out a way to knock him out so they could get to Cerberus. In the meantime, all she could do was distract him with more questions. “Uh, who’s Orcus?”

“Roman god of punishment and broken oaths,” Chloe explained to Beca. “He’s basically like the evil version of Pluto, Hades’ Roman counterpart. That explains why his _offspring_ appear to often be little stuck-up psychopaths.”

“I heard that,” said John.

“No shit,” Chloe shot back.

John just raised his eyebrows in amusement. “But anyway,” he said. “Dad gets bored sometimes. Who doesn’t like a little bit of action, a bit more conflict and death? That way he has more souls to torment in the Underworld. Hades just sits on his throne and pretends to be useful. Dad is the one who gets to dish out the pain. Sometimes he even lets me help him.” John smiled. It was twisted and made him look sinister.

“Okay, so let me get this straight,” said Beca. “You and your little Roman dad wanted to start a war because he was _bored_ , so you made it look like me, and therefore my mother Hecate, wanted to pick a fight with Hades, hoping that they’d start fighting.”

“Yeah, basically,” said John. “Keeping Cerberus captive also made it a lot easier for me to summon evil spirits or monsters too, since he guards the entrance to the Underworld.”

“You’re fucking nuts,” said Beca.

“Not really,” John said like he believed his words. “I mean, I’m just helping out my dad. He wants a war, I set one up for him. So if you don’t mind, I’m going to follow through with that plan. I can’t let you take Cerberus back.”

“I’d like to see you try to kill me,” Beca scoffed, crossing her arms.

John spread his hands in a mock-placating way. “Oh no, I don’t have to kill you. I mean, that’d be nice. But I could just incapacitate you until tomorrow’s over. That way you have to suffer _and_ Hades can punish you far worse than I ever could.”

Beca felt her blood run cold for a second, and then turn blazing, angrily hot. “Then hurry up and get over here to _incapacitate_ me before I kick your ass into oblivion, you psycho.”

John just looked at Beca coolly. “I don’t think that’s likely to happen,” he said. “I mean, I’ve got my dad on my side. He’s with me, helping me out right this very second, because he cares about me. Can you say the same?”

“Why does that even matter right now?” asked Beca, frustrated.

“I dunno,” said John casually. “Just the fact that I might have a staggering advantage over you, because my godly parent actually watches over me and aids me on my journey. Seriously, when was the last time you heard from your own mother?”

Beca knew he was just trying to screw with their minds. She opened her mouth to retort, but John spoke again first.

“Honestly, these Greeks aren’t doing a very good job of ruling the world. Don’t you think it’s time for a change?”

Chloe shifted uncomfortably on her feet. Beca noticed.

So did John, because he looked straight at Chloe and continued, “You get me, right? Greek gods are terrible at caring for their kids. Why do you even still believe in them? It’s just because you’re related to them by blood, right? They don’t actually care about you, though.”

Beca knew Chloe was faltering. “Chloe –”

“They claim all their kids within a week of arriving at camp,” Chloe said, but it sounded half-hearted.

“Yeah, because they were forced to swear on the River Styx to do so. And then what? They don’t do anything after that. You know, your good friend Jordan, I met him down at the Fields of Punishment. Can you believe he got sent there just because he tried to kill you, even though he failed? The gods subjected him to eternal torture, just because of that. They completely ignored the fact that people pushed him away from the only place kids like him – kids like _you_ – could call home. They brushed by the fact that he just wanted some company, he just wanted to have friends. They don’t care, they never have. My dad would. He _hates_ broken promises. He’d be a much better ruler.”

“Shut up,” said Beca, squeezing Chloe’s hand tighter. Chloe didn’t need to listen to any of this. She’d already gone through enough without some crazy little fourteen-year-old trying to screw with her mind.

John ignored Beca and pointed straight at Chloe. “You, my friend,” he said, “were on the receiving end of a failed promise made by your dearest father. My dad is the god of broken oaths. He can bring you the justice you deserve.”

Beca was almost scared to look at Chloe, whose expression was unreadable. She tugged gently on Chloe’s hand and panicked a little when she felt no response.

For a terrifying ten seconds, the clearing was dead silent.

“You’re an idiot,” Chloe finally said.

John blinked, clearly having not expected Chloe to disagree. “What?”

“I know my dad has been terrible about caring for me, for all his kids, probably. So what? Gods are gods. They’re busy running the world, they have good intentions but it’s tough for them to follow through on. Okay, big deal. We’re demigods, this is the kind of life we all have. Maybe we don’t have our parents there to support us, but we don’t need them. I sure don’t, because I have my friends. I have Beca. And you,” Chloe said, her voice now unwavering and her expression dead set, “have spent at least the past month trying to kill her. I don’t care what you have to offer me. You try to kill her, I’ll kill _you_.”

John looked genuinely surprised and taken aback for a second before he regained his composure. “Suit yourself, then,” he said, shrugging. “I’ve got a job to finish.”

He stepped forward and Beca automatically stepped back. He looked like he was reaching for something in his pocket, but Beca slapped his hand away with telekinesis before he could. “No,” Beca said as she mind-punched John in the stomach and sent him stumbling. “You tried to fuck with Chloe. Nobody does that and gets past me. You’re going down.”

“What are you going to do?” sneered John. “Send me to the Underworld? Scary. I could just strut right back out.”

“Then I’ll break your legs,” snapped Beca.

Without really thinking she dropped Chloe’s hand and reached John in four strides, fist pulled back and ready.

Except John caught her wrist in his hand when she tried to punch him, inches away from his face, without even moving that much. “I thought I told you,” he said, “I’ve been training nonstop with my dad ever since I was a kid. You don’t stand a chance against me.”

Beca slammed him backward with her telekinesis. Her anger was fueling her energy and he went flying several yards back, and landed roughly, but still on his feet. She took the opportunity to pull out her sword from her pocket and activate it, the Celestial bronze blade spiraling into being. Chloe had gotten her bow out. She didn’t have many arrows left.

She also looked a bit unsteady on her feet.

Beca’s main priority suddenly became making sure that the dirtball John Smith did _not_ notice that Chloe was still a little weak.

John caught sight of the sword in Beca’s hands and grinned, lifting up his loose-fitting shirt a little bit to reveal a knife strapped to his belt. He unsheathed it and Beca almost groaned at the sight. It was pitch-black. Stygian iron.

“Familiar, isn’t it?” John said, lunging forward with terrifying speed. He would’ve gotten Beca straight through the chest if she hadn’t brought her sword up in time. “I’m sure you’ve dealt with this kind of weapon before. In great depth.”

Beca knocked away the hand holding the knife and brought the butt of her sword down on John’s shoulder before he could try to get another stab in at her. He grunted in pain and stepped back momentarily.

Whatever. He was just another mopey idiot kid from the Underworld with friend issues out to kill her and Chloe. She’d already put an end to Jordan’s misery. Now she just had to stop John from screwing everything up. If he wanted to kill her, whatever.

If he wanted to kill Chloe, however, then they were going to have a problem.

John was glancing suspiciously over at Chloe, who hadn’t moved yet, her bow held tightly in her hands. Beca felt fiery anger rise up in her again when his hand even _twitched_ – she didn’t even really know how she’d managed to react so fast, she just wanted to make sure the guy didn’t lay a finger on Chloe.

Beca held him back with her telekinesis and stepped forward to try and get a slash in at John. At the last second he gathered enough strength to break through Beca’s hold and slam his knife up against her sword.

He was looking at something behind her, and Beca turned her head just in time to see Chloe fire a shot towards them. John ducked just in time and the bronze arrow sailed over his head.

When he stood up again, he blocked Beca’s attack with his knife again, and then in one quick motion, slashed it across her right forearm.

“Oh, _shit!_ ” Beca yelled, because she couldn’t help herself. The blade had only touched her for a half-second, but she could feel the shock spreading through her entire body. She fell to her knees, dropping her sword in the process.

Distantly, she could hear Chloe crying out her name, but everything was beginning to sound faint and tinny.

John stood over her, watching with a crazed, satisfied expression on his face. “It feels terrible, doesn’t it?” he asked without a single trace of sympathy. “Stygian iron does that to you. It sucks out your soul slowly.”

Beca wanted to like, murder John on the spot, but she was rapidly becoming too weak to do anything but crouch on the ground, cradling the cut on her arm. She could feel a cold _emptiness_ seeping through her bones, and it felt so horrible. All the heat from her anger was fading away, leaving her feeling like her insides had been frozen, then microwaved.

Oh, no. Was this what it felt like to get her soul sucked away?

She was vaguely aware of John nodding above her. “You want to help your friend? Come and get her,” he said.

Beca realized that he was talking to Chloe, who _of course_ would want to try and come to Beca’s aid. She wanted to scream no, to yell at Chloe to _get the hell away_ from John, but she couldn’t, not when her brain felt like it was slowly oozing out of her body.

Chloe fired more arrows. Beca heard them whizzing by, and also heard John’s laughs as he easily dodged every one. She felt Chloe close by, felt her hand dart out to grab for Beca’s sword lying on the ground nearby. She heard her rise shakily to her feet, gripping the sword tightly but uncertainly in her hands.

“Don’t you _dare_ kill Beca…” Chloe said, trying for resolute, but kind of failing.

John laughed again. “Oh, no, I wouldn’t do _that_ ,” he said easily. “I can’t hurt Beca. Hades has to do it. Because if I do it, then it’s all Orcus’ fault. But if Hades kills her, then Hecate blames him, and a war starts. Let’s be honest, everyone’s going to side with Hecate, after all her poor daughter was unfairly cut down – and once they destroy themselves fighting each other, Orcus will take the remains and rise to power.”

Beca heard a clash of metal on metal and Chloe’s stumble. Stars were dancing in her vision. The ground seemed to be swimming under her feet. She felt dead and empty inside.

Then she heard John say, “Never said I wasn’t gonna kill you, though.”

And also Chloe’s little cry of terror as John continued to push forward. All she could hear was the clashing, and how it was so clearly obvious that Chloe was barely keeping up – she was bound to slip up anytime soon, she couldn’t fight against someone like John, not in her current state –

Just like that, Beca was warming up again. Really quickly.

John could have tried to kill Beca herself, and she probably would have just sat there and taken it.

But damn her if she let a stupid soul-sucking injury get in the way of her protecting Chloe.

“ _Fucker_ ,” she said through gritted teeth.

John looked down at her, surprised. He clearly had assumed that Beca had been successfully put out of commission.

He was shocked enough that he even let Beca stand up, though it was slow, and the cut on her arm was looking really black and scary.

She looked back at Chloe, who looked like she was on the verge of tears, and Beca didn’t miss the way her hand was rubbing at her stomach where she’d been stabbed through only almost two weeks earlier and how she was breathing heavily already. That just made her rage grow even more murderous when she turned back to face John.

Her hands were glowing. She could feel them heating up, bright and powerful.

“Hey, dumbass,” she said, “you’re going to need to do more than remove my soul to get me to not –”

Beca shot forward and nailed John’s face with a punch, square and solid.

It actually sent him flying and he hit the ground sideways. Beca walked up and leaned over him, watching as he brought up a hand to his cheek, which was a burnt red color from the light of Beca’s hand.

Beca knelt down right in front of him. “ – do this,” she finished, and punched him in the face again.

She dragged him up with her hand on his throat and held him in the air with her telekinesis. It was so pleasing to just see him kick and flail in the air, struggling to pry Beca’s hand away from his throat but not daring to physically touch it, since it was actually hissing where it touched his neck and burned him.

“Fffuck you – think you can _beat_ –” he choked out. Something behind Beca rumbled and Chloe cried out again. Beca automatically spun around, dropping John in the process, and saw the ground in front of her churning.

“I’ve got so much control over the monsters in Tartarus,” John said in a strangled voice, still sitting heavily on the ground. “Take your pick – which one do you want to _die by_?”

A paw shot out of the ground. Beca instinctively raced over to where Chloe was standing, frozen, and pushed her aside before more dirt flew into the air.

“Miss my good friend the Chimera?” John asked Beca, like they were sipping coffee together at a restaurant or something, not standing across from each other while the ground between them barfed up a giant hybrid monster from the pits of Tartarus. “Sadly he’s not _the_ Chimera, since that stupid centaur guy of yours blasted him to bits. But meet one of his many little brothers. They’re just as vicious.”

The fully formed baby-Chimera roared at Beca. She was so mad at John that she wasn’t even scared, just annoyed.

“Um…Beca, do you want your sword back or…?” Chloe asked her tentatively.

“You keep it,” Beca responded, her hands glowing a little brighter. “Dice John into a million pieces for me, will you? I’ll deal with the monster.” She gave Chloe a thumbs-up before turning her attention back to baby Chimera.

It hissed angrily at Beca. Behind her, she could hear John and Chloe start fighting again.

“You don’t scare me,” Beca informed baby Chimera.

Frustrated, it leaped forward and tried to breathe fire on Beca, and only became more frustrated when the flames seemed to hit an invisible block in front of her.

Then Beca shoved her hand forward and baby Chimera went flying back, so far that it hit against a couple trees on the edge of the clearing. Beca sprinted after it. She finally figured out how to summon an energy ball again, ever since that stint back in Georgia, and took great pride in slamming one into the Chimera’s stomach before it could even tell what was happening.

Beca stepped back before it could blow up in her face and baby Chimera howled in pain, its serpent tail smacking up and down on the ground, trying to get at Beca.

“No,” said Beca.

The monster roared at her. It probably meant “YES!” in Chimera.

Beca successfully summoned another energy ball in her left hand, waiting patiently for baby Chimera to gain its bearings again and try to attack her. Sure enough, the monster shook its lion head and opened its mouth, probably to try and breathe fire on her again. Beca threw her energy ball straight into its mouth before it could.

It seemed to have gone straight through the back of baby Chimera’s body, because it exploded in the thing’s stomach. It was all dust and dead monster powder by the time it hit the ground.

Beca turned back around just in time to see John blocking Chloe’s sword swing with his knife while simultaneously jabbing in with his free hand and punching Chloe in the stomach.

Straight, dead-center onto her wound.

Like he _knew_ it was there.

If Beca had been angry before, it was _nothing_ compared to how she felt now.

John flashed a maniacal grin in her direction, and as Chloe involuntary crumpled in front of him, he lifted up his knife as if getting ready to stab forward.

He was suddenly a hundred yards knocked off his feet with Beca’s hand on his throat again before either of them knew what was happening.

John finally, finally looked properly scared and genuinely fearing for his life.

If Beca had been able to see her expression at that moment, she probably would have freaked out too.

“Die,” she said, and threw him as hard as she could across the clearing with her telekinesis, making sure he landed hard against a tree.

She took her sweet time walking over to him, enjoying the way his eyes moved in and out of focus occasionally and how he struggled to sit up properly against the trunk of the tree.

By the time she was only a couple feet away, John was eyeing her warily, clearly trying to decide if he could throw his knife and take her by surprise.

Beca made a finger gun, because she was feeling ridiculous, and held it up to point at John. The boy immediately froze and tried to back up even further into the tree.

“Any last words?” she asked him.

“Just do it already,” he hissed.

“Not yet. _I_ have some last words for _you_ ,” Beca said. “First off, I’d like to thank you for making my entry into the godly world a living hell. I really appreciate how you tried to pit my mom against Hades and almost started a war between all the gods. Also, the part where you literally took Hades’ favorite pet by tricking him and then made it look like I was the one who did such a shitty thing? Absolutely amazing. And then you summoned a bunch of monsters to try and kill us the entire time we were out here.”

John looked like he was on the verge of actually begging for his life. His eyes were wide, nothing like the sadistic, calm boy who had stood over her prior to this fight. His arms were shaking as he tried to lift his own body weight up higher, but Beca had him pinned fast to the tree with her telekinesis.

“My favorite part,” said Beca slowly, letting all the anger and fury show in her words, “was when you tried to _kill_ _Chloe_. You know, that person who means so much to me. And since you’ve done all these wonderful things for the both of us, I thought it would only be fair if I, you know, returned the favor, right?”

“Beca –” John said desperately. “Beca – I’m sorry – my dad wanted me to…Please don’t…”

Her hand, still curled into an epic-looking finger gun, was glowing with bright white light, and it had started to crackle and spark with energy. She grinned at John.

“Pew pew,” she said, because she could. “Open wide, motherfucker.”

Beca fired.

John Smith screamed, and when the light explosion faded, he was gone.

 

She stood there for thirty seconds, just staring at the spot John had been occupying just a few moments earlier before she’d completely _obliterated_ him, feeling pretty proud of herself.

Then, as the anger drained slowly out of her, so did her energy.

_Chloe_ , she thought with a gasp. _I have to get to her_.

Except her knees wouldn’t listen to her, and they buckled before she could mentally scream at herself.

“Goddammit,” she swore as she tried to push herself up with her hands. The soul-sucking feeling was back. It was like all the strength she’d spent throwing shit around the clearing and blowing up little fourteen-year-old brats hit her all at once, barreling into her like a freight train loaded with elephants.

_Why the fuck would someone load a freight train with elephants_ , she thought, because her brain was unable to properly focus on anything else.

“Beca?”

Beca rolled over on the ground and managed to flop onto her back to find Chloe’s face hovering over her worriedly.

“Chloe…?” she said weakly. “You…are you okay? Do you need help?”

Chloe smiled, reaching out to gently put her hand on Beca’s cheek. “Look who’s talking. No, I’m fine, really. It doesn’t hurt as bad as it did earlier…Come on, we need to get you fixed…you look terrible.”

Beca didn’t have enough energy left over to protest. So instead she just rested on the ground, staring up at the stars that were beginning to pop out on the night sky while Chloe pulled her backpack over to them and went to work on the Stygian iron wound on Beca’s arm.

“That was amazing,” Chloe said as she cleaned off the slash so it looked slightly less black.

“It was nothing,” said Beca sheepishly, looking up at Chloe in a dazed wonder. She watched Chloe bite her lip in worry as she fixed up Beca’s arm and wrapped it in bandages, and Beca was suddenly overcome with the desire to –

Well.

Chloe brought Beca’s arm up, and in true Chloe fashion, kissed the wound gently. “All done,” she said with a gentle smile.

_You should kiss me instead_ , Beca thought numbly, and she was too tired by that point to yell at her brain for thinking about stuff like that.

“You’re the best,” Beca mumbled.

“No, you are,” said Chloe. “The way you took out John…just, wow. It was _awesome_. And…thank you.”

“For what?” Beca asked, squinting at Chloe.

“For saving me,” Chloe said softly. “I was kind of getting my ass handed to me. I think I would have died if you hadn’t stepped in.”

“That’s exactly why I did,” Beca said, reaching up to grab Chloe’s hand but realizing halfway through that she didn’t have the strength to.

Chloe noticed and caught Beca’s hand before it could hit the ground again.

“We should probably…Cerberus…by tomorrow,” said Beca.

“We should.” Chloe looked concerned. “Can you stand? We can wait till morning if you want.”

Beca scrunched up her face for a second, thinking hard, before she couldn’t stop the tiny smile that appeared.

“Can you carry me?” she asked innocently.

Chloe rolled her eyes, but it was affectionate. “What are you, five?”

“On a scale from one to five, yes,” Beca replied. “Please?” Then she hastened to elaborate. “I mean, don’t do it if your stomach is hurting you. It’s not worth it for that.”

“I think I can deal with a tiny bit of gut pain for you, sillyhead,” said Chloe, and she reached down to scoop a limp Beca up into her arms. “Besides, you weigh about as much as a sack of feathers.”

“Rude,” said Beca, but she hugged onto Chloe as tight as she could anyway.

Chloe bent down long enough to press her hand to the print they’d found on the shiny gray surface earlier, and stood up again holding a Beca just as the ground began to rumble and the earth slid apart right in front of them. By the time the gray surface had stopped moving, a set of stairs had appeared, leading down into the darkness below.

They made it to the bottom before Beca told Chloe that she should probably walk by herself now before she ended up killing Chloe’s arms. So onward they trotted through the long, murky and very wide hallway, lit by the faint bronze light of Beca’s sword that Chloe was holding up in front of her. Beca still had to lean heavily onto Chloe for support, but at least the nectar and ambrosia had helped.

As time passed, they could hear shuffling in the distance. The tunnel was opening up ahead, and Beca thought she caught sight of the silver of chains.

They made it to the end of the hallway and came into a giant cavern, lit by floating torches. And Beca got her first glimpse of the big dog Cerberus.

He certainly was large, and he had huge, scary fangs and three massive heads. His paws looked like they could smash rock into powder. But seeing him lying there, with all three heads lying defeated on the ground and his eyes drooping sadly, with giant cuffs on his four paws chaining him to posts drilled into the ground, he looked pitiful.

“I don’t know what to do,” said Beca. The three heads shifted slightly at the sound of her voice, but clearly Cerberus was too weak to get agitated. He merely glanced at Beca and Chloe before plopping his heads back onto the ground again.

“Can you stand up by yourself?” Chloe asked her.

“I can try,” said Beca.

So Chloe helped her lean against the wall and began to walk, tentatively, cautiously, up to Cerberus.

“Hey buddy,” she said to him.

Cerberus’s center head let out a half-hearted bark.

“I can’t believe someone would do this to you. You don’t deserve this,” Chloe said soothingly. She reached out, hesitating slightly just before she touched Cerberus. When the dog didn’t move, she put her hand on his head and pet him, gently. Cerberus whimpered a little.

“We’re gonna get you out of here, okay? We’ll take you back to Hades. Is that okay with you?” Chloe asked him.

All three of his heads nodded. “Okay. Awesome. Don’t move, okay? We’re going to break these chains and set you free.”

Chloe turned expectantly to Beca, who understood and reached for the sword lying propped up against the wall next to her.

“Sure you can do it?” Chloe asked her as she approached.

“Honestly, Cerberus looks so depressed it makes _me_ sad,” Beca answered, and lifted the sword above her head to bring it down on the chains.

The metal cut easily, and pretty soon Beca had gotten Cerberus free to move, at least. The cuffs were a little harder to get rid of because Beca didn’t want to accidentally hurt the beast, but eventually they managed.

Cerberus didn’t even move after he was liberated. He just sluggishly curled his paws under himself and frowned at the floor.

Chloe considered him, looking worried. “He’s too weak and malnourished to move,” she said.

“How much ambrosia do we have left?” asked Beca.

Chloe blinked, and then took off her backpack to check. She pulled out their baggie of the magical godly food and counted six modestly-sized cubes remaining.

“It’s not much,” she said unhappily. She turned back to Cerberus. “Would this help, big guy?”

Cerberus perked up a little at the sight of the ambrosia in Chloe’s hands. Chloe smiled a little and petted the center head again. The two heads on the side seemed a little miffed that the one in the middle was getting all the attention.

“I’m gonna feed each of you two, okay? How does that sound?”

All three heads barked.

So she started with the leftmost head, holding out her hand and giggling slightly as Cerberus tenderly licked the ambrosia off her palm. Then she moved to the head in the middle, and then the one on the right, until all of them looked considerably better. Cerberus scrabbled for a second before picking himself off the floor and shaking a little.

“Good boy,” Chloe said affectionately, reaching up for two of Cerberus’ heads. When they realized what was happening, they bent down and Chloe scratched both of them behind their ears. The third head whined a little, obviously feeling a little jealous about all the attention Chloe was giving the other two. She laughed and moved over so she could scratch its ears too.

Beca just stood back and watched her with admiration.

Even the big scary three-headed dog who kept watch in the Underworld turned into a ball of fluff in front of Chloe.

“How are you feeling, buddy?” Chloe asked the dog.

Cerberus barked, and it sounded much happier. Chloe smiled.

“That’s great,” she said. “Are you up for a little bit of traveling? Hades is awaiting your return in Los Angeles.”

At the sound of his master’s name, Cerberus perked up and began pacing around the cavern. Chloe laughed as he trotted by, his heads turning every which way, brimming with anticipation.

“Come on, Beca,” she said, grabbing her by the hand and looking expectantly up at Cerberus. “Do you think you could take us with you?”

Cerberus barked and folded himself onto the ground, allowing Chloe to climb up onto his back, Beca scrambling after her. The head on the right turned around to check and see if they were safely situated. Chloe gave him a thumbs up and it turned back around as the dog stood up again.

Beca scooted closer to Chloe sitting in front of her and wrapped her arms around her waist tightly, and felt Chloe’s reassuring touch seconds afterwards.

Thankfully the ceiling of the tunnel was more than enough to accommodate Cerberus’s mighty height, and with one final bark, he squared up and bounded back through the hallway, Beca and Chloe sitting peacefully on top of him.

Soon enough they were out of the tunnel, back up the stairs and into the cool summer air. Cerberus made his way nimbly across highways and carefully navigated through skyscrapers and buildings, and then they were zooming across California at full speed, heading straight towards Los Angeles, where Beca and Chloe could finally finish the quest once and for all.


	14. Big Dog Successfully Returned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello...sorry it's been a while i got busy 
> 
> i hope this makes up for that please don't kill me ;-;

By the time Cerberus stopped running, he’d taken them to a lot of a spooky-looking building a ways off the main streets. The dog knelt down so Chloe could hop off, Beca following shortly after. She squinted into the lobby through its glass doors. She’d had barely any sleep over the last few days so the bright light was hard to adjust to. A sign on the top of the building read “D.O.A. RECORDING STUDIOS.”

“Do we go in?” Beca asked.

“Guess so,” said Chloe.

Cerberus somehow fit through the door into the lobby, trotting cautiously after Beca and Chloe as they approached the security desk at the front of the room.

“Yes?” asked the guard sitting at the desk.

“Um, we have your dog,” said Beca, pointing behind her as if it wasn’t obvious Cerberus was taking up most of the space in the lobby.

The guard blinked, his gaze traveling between Beca’s and Chloe’s and then to Cerberus.

“Have you had a change of heart, then?” he asked Beca with raised eyebrows. “Don’t want to face the wrath of Hades?”

Beca gritted her teeth and said, “I wasn’t the thief. I took him down and now I’m here to give back what he stole. Which, by the way, you’re welcome.”

The guard continued to remain skeptical. “Whatever explanation…floats your boat, as the kids these days like to say.”

“Look, who even are you?” Beca asked exasperatedly. “I literally have Cerberus safe and sound right behind me, ready to give him back. Can you just take us to Hades now?”

The guard rolled his eyes and leaned forward so they could get a better view of his silver name tag. “Now do you see who I am? Maybe you shouldn’t talk so rudely to me anymore.”

Beca squinted at the engraving on the name tag. She couldn’t make out the letters.

“Um,” she said.

“Right,” the guard sighed. “You lot are all dyslexic, aren’t you? Well, I’m Charon.”

“Great,” said Beca, because she didn’t recognize the name.

Chloe elbowed her. “Mr. Charon, Beca doesn’t mean any harm. We’ve both been through a lot these past three weeks and she’s just a little mad she was wrongly accused and sent on a quest with barely two weeks of training. We know who the real thief is, he tried to stop us just a few hours ago and Beca killed him. I’m sure Lord Hades misses his dog. If Beca really is the thief, just let us through and let Hades decide what to do with her.”

Cerberus barked.

Charon narrowed his eyes, considering. “You say you know who the thief is,” he said. “Then tell me: Who committed the crime?”

“His name is John Smith,” Chloe explained. “Son of Orcus. His father wanted him to start a war between the Greek gods so that he could torture more souls in his realm, and then take over once the gods destroyed each other.”

Charon blinked.

“She’s not lying,” said Beca.

“Very well,” Charon said finally. “Your explanation seems plausible. I’ll take you and the dog to Mr. Death Pants. See if he believes you.”

Beca opened her mouth to say something, but she felt Chloe grab her wrist, so she shut up.

Charon led them to the back of the building to the elevator and opened the doors. “This is the biggest elevator on service,” he said, grimacing as he glanced at Cerberus. “How did you even get him out of the Underworld?”

“I didn’t,” Beca reminded him, a little sourly.

“Right,” said Charon, and he whistled for Cerberus to get into the elevator.

It was a very tight fit. Charon had to throw out a bunch of spirits who had been waiting to go to the Underworld, leaving only him, Beca, Chloe, and Cerberus to squeeze together in the cramped space.

“I can’t breathe,” said Beca as the elevator began to descend.

The air gradually turned misty. Beca began to feel woozy, and her wound and exhaustion wasn’t helping her feel any more grounded the closer they got to the Underworld.

Eventually the elevator morphed into a wooden boat, gliding eerily across a deep black river.

“Styx,” said Chloe faintly.

“Sticks?” asked Beca.

“No, the River Styx,” said Chloe. “One of the five rivers of the Underworld.”

“Oh,” said Beca. “Is that why I’m feeling kind of sick?”

Chloe reached for Beca’s hand. The touch made her feel a little less empty.

“Welcome to the Land of the Dead,” Charon said.

Cerberus seemed to be the only one who was excited about approaching the Underworld. He began barking, and Charon had to duck several times to avoid the dog’s massive, wagging tail.

“It’s cold,” said Beca.

Chloe sang a song for her, which filled her with warmth. Beca figured she would willingly listen to Chloe sing forever and not get tired of it. She had a beautiful voice. And by the time she was finished, even Charon was smiling a little.

“So I know I’m supposed to be indifferent to you little godlings,” he said as they approached the shoreline of the Underworld, “but I have to say, you’re quite talented.”

"Thank you, Mr. Charon," said Chloe pleasantly.

Beca couldn’t hide her grin. Of course Chloe would be the only demigod in history, probably, to impress Charon.

The boat slid onto the edge of the black sandbank. In the distance, Beca could see high, craggy cliffs and black stone walls towering over the landscape. The air was filled with a creepy, dark-green mist.

“Well, this place is pleasant,” said Beca, gripping onto Chloe’s hand tighter. Cerberus bounded off the boat, and Beca and Chloe stepped onto the shore right after.

They turned back to face Charon. “Have fun,” he said, and the boat sailed forward again, out of sight.

“So, buddy,” said Chloe, looking up at Cerberus. The dog barked. Two of his heads looked forward expectantly, while one faced Chloe questioningly. “Ready to meet Lord Hades?”

Cerberus led them down a pathway that strayed from where the rest of the spirits were headed, and eventually they snaked around the walls towards the back, where a giant glittering black palace loomed on the horizon.

They walked several miles. The entire time, Beca was silent. She couldn’t find the energy to talk, so she just held onto Chloe’s hand and reminded herself that they were both still alive, that they were still fighting. They were getting closer and closer by the second, and just a couple more miles was all that separated them from returning Cerberus to Hades and finishing the quest.

They reached the courtyard of the palace, and walked through the garden. Cerberus trotted up the steps between the columns and entered the house of Hades.

The massive twin doors at the end of the hallway swung open. Cerberus barked, loudly, and shot forward, straight into the room. Beca and Chloe exchanged a glance before chasing after him.

The first thing Beca noticed when she stepped foot into the throne room was that the throne itself was made of human bones, which made her shudder. Then she noticed that the guy sitting on the throne was at least ten feet tall, dressed in black robes and carrying an aura of power.

“Oh,” said Beca, feeling extremely small and weak.

“Lord Hades,” said Chloe.

“So, little thief,” Hades said. “Good on you to decide to return Cerberus. Though you are cutting it pretty fine, aren’t you?”

“I’m not the thief,” said Beca. “Sir,” she added, because Hades was glowering at her.

“It was someone else,” Chloe put in. “It was another boy. He tried to stop us earlier, when we were heading to retrieve Cerberus. His name is John Smith, son of Orcus. Do you perhaps know of him?”

“A kid of the Roman god?” Hades asked, surprised. “Sounds suspicious, for you to accuse someone like that.”

“He tried to kill me,” said Beca wearily, holding up her arm for Hades to see. “See, look. He stabbed me through with his Stygian iron knife. It hurt a lot.”

Hades didn’t seem convinced. Beca figured as much. At least he wasn’t incinerating them on the spot, though, so Beca kept talking.

“Also, he kept spouting off about wanting to frame me so you’d try to start a war with Hecate, since you two are kind of on tense terms. He said a full-fledged war between the gods would kill a lot of people, and his dad likes torturing souls or something. And then once you guys blew each other up Orcus could take over.”

Cerberus had been standing to the side during the exchange, but now he whimpered a little, and scooted closer to Hades. The god glanced over and sighed, reaching out to pet Cerberus.

“You did bring him back to me,” Hades admitted. “And what you speak of certainly sounds like something that blasted Orcus would attempt.”

“So you believe us?” Beca asked hopefully.

Hades considered. Beca was practically crushing Chloe’s hand at that point, but Chloe didn’t seem to mind.

“I guess I was wrong to accuse you,” he said slowly. “You seem to be of good intentions.”

Beca breathed a sigh of relief. She turned to face Chloe, who looked as overjoyed as she felt.

“You must understand that I had my reasons for suspecting you,” Hades said, a bit reluctantly. “Your mother Hecate protected you with Mist for the entirety of your childhood and much of your teenage years. It is extraordinarily rare for a demigod to survive on their own past the age of twelve or thirteen.”

“So I’ve been told,” said Beca.

“Well, I didn’t even know of your existence until only a year ago,” said Hades. “Hecate has few children, and things between us have been rough recently. So imagine how I felt when I discovered that not only was one of her children running loose in the world as a teenager, but also the fact that Hecate, your own mother, had gone out of her way to protect you and keep you hidden from monsters.”

“Um,” said Beca.

Hades sighed. “When Cerberus was stolen from me, I immediately jumped to the conclusion that it must have been you. Only a child of Hecate would have been able to manipulate the Mist powerful enough to…ah, trick me. I thought you would have been able to pull it off. If Hecate was willing to keep you safe all these years, she must have really seen something special in you.”

“I don’t feel very special,” said Beca.

“You completed my little quest,” Hades noted. “Which, by the way, I wasn’t really expecting you to. I made the deadline three weeks, believing you would never meet it. But you did, even though I appear to have accused the wrong person.”

“Yeah, well,” said Beca, “I don’t exactly want the world to implode because of a godly war.”

Hades rubbed Cerberus’s center head, and the dog whined happily. “Then your work here is done,” he said. “I think I will pay a visit to dear old Orcus and his spawn after you two leave.”

That was it? No thank you, no apologies, no “good job on completing a quest you shouldn’t even have had to do in the first place”? Beca wanted to be angry, but she figured that escaping the Underworld with her life was enough for now.

“Um, Lord Hades,” Chloe said tentatively. “We kind of don’t have any money left. Do you think you could get us back to Camp Half-Blood? We would be very grateful for any help you might offer.”

Hades frowned at her, and Chloe seemed to shrink slightly. Then he shook his head and snapped his fingers. “Very well,” he said. “The next flight to New York leaves at eight in the morning. Check your backpack for the tickets. Would you like me to teleport you to the surface? There is an airport fairly close by.”

“That would be wonderful,” said Chloe. “Thank you.”

Hades grunted.

Cerberus whined, apparently sad to see Chloe go.

"I'll miss you too, big guy," Chloe called to him. "Take care! If I can, I'll try to visit you! Would you like that?"

Beca almost snorted out loud, but Cerberus looked genuinely upset, so she kept silent.

Then Hades waved his hand in the air, and Beca and Chloe were enveloped in darkness.

When the black mist dissipated, they were back on the surface in a park. There was an airport right across the street. They had apparently spent several hours in the Underworld, because the sun was just beginning to rise. There were few cars on the roads, and the park was empty and peaceful.

Despite feeling exhausted down to the core of her bones, Beca smiled.

“Hell yes,” said Chloe, and she let go of Beca’s hand to run forwards along the path. She quickly disappeared out of sight.

Beca took a few seconds to regain her senses after their stint in the Underworld, then shook her head and went to search for Chloe.

She had taken shelter under a tree close to the path, sitting down with her legs crossed and leaning against it. Beca smiled instinctively upon seeing her. Her feet took her automatically to Chloe and she sat down on her knees in front of her. Chloe watched and grinned stupidly.

Beca grinned stupidly too. She couldn’t help it.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hi,” said Chloe.

“So the quest is officially over,” said Beca.

“It is,” Chloe agreed.

They were still smiling at each other. Beca couldn’t figure out how to wipe it off her face. But then again, she didn’t really want to in the first place.

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Better,” replied Chloe.

“Good,” said Beca, her smile widening. “Uh, yeah. That’s great.”

Chloe laughed, softly, and motioned for Beca to move closer. So she scooted as far forward as she could, so that her knees were touching Chloe’s feet.

“How are _you_ feeling?” Chloe asked.

“I…uh, I’m pretty okay, I guess. I’m just glad this quest is set and done. So now we can go back home.” Then Beca remembered something that had been bothering her for a while. “Actually…”

“What’s the matter?” Chloe asked.

“It’s kind of stupid,” said Beca quickly. “Nevermind. I don’t know. It’s stupid of me to worry about.”

“Beca, you can tell me anything, you know,” said Chloe. She reached out for Beca’s hands and held them in her own, in her lap.

“Okay,” said Beca, reassured a little by the hand contact. “But promise not to laugh at me.”

“I won’t,” Chloe promised.

“So, remember how there was a prophecy that came with the quest, right?”

“Yes. The one that said we’d go south, and west, and find Cerberus, and expel the thief, and return to camp, right?”

“Um. Yeah.” Beca blinked. Chloe apparently had a far better memory than she did. She’d kind of already forgotten the entire thing…except for the single line that was still nagging her in the back of her mind. “Except that’s not the whole prophecy. There’s another line that I…uh, didn’t tell you.”

Chloe stared at Beca for a while, confused. “Why not?”

“Because,” said Beca, “it…uh, it went like…‘Confront a friend who no longer sees you as such.’”

As Chloe took the sentence in, she tilted her head to the side, like she was thinking. Beca took the opportunity to let the words spill out of her mouth.

“I mean, like, I’ve been thinking about it the entire time on the quest, and it worried me at first, because like, I really like all the friends I made at Camp Half-Blood and I kind of wasn’t looking forward to seeing which one I’d have to…you know, _confront_. But then we bumped into Jordan and I thought, maybe Jordan was the friend, he was being nice to us…and then he betrayed us…does that count? Or John Smith, did he count, I’m not sure, but I kind of hope it was them. But even though I’m trying to force myself to accept that the prophecy was probably talking about one of them, it’s not really working…I still feel really uneasy, for some reason.”

“Oh,” said Chloe. Her expression was blank, which made Beca freak out on the inside a little.

“Yeah,” said Beca. “And…and…please don’t laugh at me, please don’t…I was _really_ scared that it might have…been…you know, maybe… _you_ , because you were the only friend with me on the quest, and I’m not sure if I can handle it if you are…because…because I might be…you know…uh…I kind of – sort of really…”

She couldn’t get the words out.

_I kind of sort of really like you_.

And now she was making wild gestures with one hand, while Chloe still held onto the other one.

Oops.

Chloe continued to gaze at Beca after she trailed off, but her expression was softening. She reached up for Beca’s hand waving in the air and pulled it back down, giving it a soft squeeze. Beca could feel her heart pounding in her chest.

_Please say something…_

Then, miraculously, Chloe began to laugh, gently, kindly, and it made Beca feel warm inside. Why was she laughing?

“Beca…” Chloe said, and that smile was back. That beaming, loving smile. “You want to know what I think?”

“What?” Beca breathed.

“I think you’re right. I am the person in that prophecy line.”

Beca’s heart stopped.

“I don’t really see you as a friend anymore,” Chloe continued.

Beca’s brain was frozen. But…they were sitting so close together…they’d gone through so much…How could…how could Chloe not see her as a friend anymore?

“Why not…?” Beca asked hesitantly, trying not to whine.

Chloe pulled her in closer. Their faces were only a few inches apart.

“I think your stupid prophecy didn’t just factor in someone seeing you as _less_ than a friend,” she whispered. Beca fought the urge to shiver. “I think…it also includes…seeing you as…more.”

Oh.

Holy crap.

“What?” was all Beca could say, because now her brain was fried.

Chloe smiled. “You’re right, Beca. I don’t see you as a friend anymore, because I think…you are more than that to me.”

“What the hell,” said Beca. She leaned down and buried her face into Chloe’s lap. “Holy shit. Are you…kidding me right now? Are you serious?”

“I really like you, Beca,” said Chloe, and Beca didn’t have to look up to know Chloe was smiling. She squeezed Beca’s hands again.

Beca groaned in frustration, but inside her heart was now beating very quickly and fluttering and she felt light-headed. “That blasted prophecy…made me worry _so much_ …and it was all, because of…” She lifted her head suddenly and looked Chloe in the eye. “Chloe, _I_ really like _you_. I can’t believe…”

“That’s amazing…” Chloe said quietly, with a faint smile on her face. “Look, Beca. A real, legit prophecy predicted this. It predicted us.”

“And caused me a crap ton of unnecessary stress. This is utterly ridiculous,” Beca grumbled, but it was half-hearted. Her mind was too occupied with the fact that _holy shit Chloe likes her back?!_

_Chloe likes me back!_

“You like me back?” asked Beca.

“Of course I do,” said Chloe. “ _You_ like _me_ back?”

“What’s there not to like?” Beca said sheepishly. “You’re like, perfect. It’s unfair.”

They were even closer now.

The air was calm, and they were peacefully leaning against each other, but at the same time, Beca felt tense. Nervous.

“So,” Chloe said after a short pause, so quietly that Beca had to scoot even closer in to hear her. “Your mother is Hecate.”

“Yeah,” Beca said back, equally as softly. “And you’re the daughter of Apollo, the god of the sun.”

Chloe smiled. “Remember that time when we were talking…on the train to Atlanta, how it made sense that your mother was sometimes the goddess of the moon too? You know, because you’re kind of shy and reserved, and all dark and mysterious.”

Beca snorted. “More like mind-numbingly awkward.”

Chloe laughed. “That’s not the point,” she said affectionately. “The point is, you’re basically the moon, right?”

“Eh,” said Beca, grinning a little. “But you, on the other hand, are most definitely a child of the sun, because, well…You’re all bright and cheerful and so…radiant. You can light up anyone’s day with just your presence.”

“Aw, Beca,” Chloe said. Her eyes were twinkling.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Beca said, feeling her face turn pink. “It’s true. If I had to pick anyone who was most similar to the sun, it’d be you.”

“Mm,” Chloe agreed, pausing a bit to compose her thoughts. “But…you know what I think?”

“Yes?” Beca breathed.

“I feel like…sometimes I’m the one who’s the moon. I’ve had a rough past that I have to try hard to push through. When I get mad…I get cold, dark angry. I don’t forgive other people very easily. Sometimes, when times are tough, I just want to drop everything and give up.”

Beca considered this. It made sense.

Their foreheads were touching.

“But you…” Chloe continued, in almost a murmur, “you…you’re passionate. You’re fiery when you get worked up, like the sun, and react strongly to protect people you care about. You literally disintegrated John with a big ball of light. And…you make me want to keep pushing forward. I think…you’re like the fire…the light in my life.”

Wow.

What was she supposed to say to _that_?

“You…Chloe, you’re really something…” said Beca, because she didn’t really have the brainpower to say anything else.

“Well, I think,” said Chloe, with a faint, content smile, “that you are the most amazing person I’ve ever met, Beca Mitchell.”

“Well, _you’re_ the most amazing person I’ve had the privilege to lay my eyes on, Chloe…Chloe…”

Suddenly, Beca started laughing a little to herself. Chloe’s smile grew wider when she heard it.

“What’s up?” she said.

“I…I don’t actually know what your last name is,” Beca said through her grin. “How does that even work? It’s like I’ve never really met you.”

Now it was Chloe’s turn to laugh, and the light, happy sound filled Beca with happiness.

“It’s Beale,” she whispered, their noses brushing against each other as she leaned even closer. “My name is Chloe Beale.”

“Well, Chloe Beale,” Beca said, testing the name out for the first time, “it is a pleasure to meet you.”

They were so, so close. All Beca had to do was just tilt her head up a little bit, and then –

So she did.

She had just enough space for thought left to notice that Chloe returned it immediately, eagerly but also with a soft, calm exhale, and then they were kissing and Beca’s mind was melting through her body and her heart was swelling and she felt light. Happy.

Perfect.

Chloe’s hand was gently cupping Beca’s cheek, and it felt so nice, her touch so gentle. Beca could only respond by kissing Chloe again, slowly, softly, over and over and over.

It was so wonderful that Beca couldn’t help but smile, which only made Chloe smile as well, and just like that they were both grinning like idiots but still kissing and Beca wondered vaguely if it was illegal to be this happy and content.

The quest was over, they’d made it out of the scrape alive, they had set things right again. In just a few more hours they could go home, finally return back to camp and settle back in. Everything was good.

Everything was _great_.

And while they kissed, over and over again, holding hands and pressing as close to each other as they could sitting under the tree, nothing else in the whole world mattered.


	15. Guess Who's Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey im sorry i've been gone for a while, 
> 
> also sorry this is kind of short
> 
> i am trying my best to keep writing, it's been a little rough lately
> 
> thank you to everyone who has stuck with me here! i think i'll have 1 or 2 chapters at most after this one and then it'll be done

They made it through the airport with ten minutes to spare, wearing ripped clothing and covered in dirt. A lot of people looked at them funny and Beca almost got busted at the metal detector with her sword. Even then, not even the skeptical airport workers who eyed them warily as they passed by with one banged-up backpack in between the two of them could diminish the stupid grins on both their faces.

It was only when they were sitting on the plane as it awaited takeoff that Beca remembered something.

“Uh…Zeus isn’t going to blow us out of the sky, right?”

“I hope not,” Chloe responded brightly.

Beca grumbled and sank lower into her seat.

Surprisingly, the flight was fairly uneventful. Halfway through out of nowhere Beca leaned over to the adjacent seat, where Chloe was sitting, and kissed her, taking great pride in knowing that she could do that now. Chloe just pushed her away and laughed. Beca pouted and then Chloe kissed her to make it go away.

They finally landed in the middle of New York and stumbled out into the early afternoon day.

“You look like crap,” Beca told Chloe.

“So do you,” said Chloe, grinning back at Beca.

“Let’s get back to camp.”

“Okay,” said Chloe.

Beca kissed her again. Then she grabbed Chloe’s hand and set off along the streets, the adrenaline and happiness lifting her spirits and putting the pain at bay.

It took them three hours to avoid getting lost and finally end up at the base of Half-Blood Hill. Beca looked up at the hill, where she could the entrance to the camp, and groaned.

“It’s too far away,” Beca whined. “I’m tired.”

“Hey,” said Chloe, wrapping her arms around Beca and pulling her close so that they were face to face, inches away from each other. “We just made it across the entire United States in three weeks, _and_ I had a hole in my stomach for the second half of it. We can make it to the top of this stupid hill.”

“I don’t wanna,” said Beca, burying her face in the crook of Chloe’s neck.

“I’ll kiss you if you go up,” said Chloe.

Beca stopped grumbling for a few seconds. Then she muttered, “Fine.”

Chloe smiled and dragged Beca up the hill, their fingers intertwined.

By the time they were three-fourths of the way up, they were close enough to spot the two demigods who were currently on guard, Stacie and Benji. Beca’s heart sped up at the sight of her friends again, wearing armor and looking bored. Benji was leaning wearily against the spear he was holding and looked like he was seconds away from falling asleep.

Stacie rubbed her eyes sleepily. Then her gaze landed on Beca.

She screamed.

“Oh my god!” she yelled gleefully, shoving Benji so hard the poor boy stumbled and went down under the weight of his armor. “They’re back! Beca’s back! Beca and Chloe are back!”

She sprinted straight down the hill, and wrapped the two of them up in a tight hug, squealing with happiness. Beca and Chloe sank into her hug, laughing with joy and relief.

“You’re back! You’re alive!” Stacie was screaming.

“Not for long if you strangle us,” said Beca disapprovingly, but she was smiling widely.

“You’re _alive_ ,” said Stacie happily. “You guys! You have to tell us what happened! Did you kick Hades’ big oily ass?”

More campers were appearing at the crest of the hill, obviously alerted by Stacie’s yelling. At the head were Aubrey and Jesse.

“BECAW!” Jesse bellowed, and he jumped onto the newly forming dogpile as he hugged Beca as hard as he could.

Before she knew what was happening, Beca was suddenly being surrounded by all the campers, hugged on all sides by Stacie, Benji, Jesse, Fat Amy, and even Bumper. She was laughing and smiling and couldn’t believe she was back.

She was back. Alive and in one piece.

“Okay guys, I think it’s pretty obvious that Beca and Chloe have some nasty injuries that should be dealt with first,” came Aubrey’s voice, cutting through all the shouts and cries of victory. The group of campers reluctantly released Beca and Chloe, who stumbled out of the crowd to meet Aubrey. She had her serious expression on, but Beca could see the smile threatening to break through.

“Good to see you, Beca,” she said.

Beca grinned even harder, even though it seemed impossible.

“Right back at you,” she replied, and she and Chloe both gave Aubrey a hug.

With what looked like half of the demigods trailing excitedly behind them, Aubrey led the two into the infirmary, where a flock of Apollo kids converged on Chloe to treat her stomach wound.

“What’d you do this time, sis?” one of the girls sighed good-naturedly as she rolled up Chloe’s shirt to inspect the gash.

“She saved my life,” Beca said from the cot next to Chloe’s.

“Shut up and let me heal you,” said the Apollo kid tending to Beca’s wounds. Chloe tried to stifle her smile and failed.

They took a much needed bath, got changed out of their ripped up clothes into shiny new T-shirts and shorts, were bandaged and fed ambrosia until they felt like they were going to evaporate, and given a hearty, _real_ meal before the healers finally left the two of them alone in the infirmary. Beca immediately climbed out of her cot and onto Chloe’s, snuggling into her side.

“Hi,” said Beca.

“Hello,” replied Chloe with a smile.

“We’re back.”

“We are.”

“We’re alive.”

“You look like a mummy.”

Beca pouted. “Shut up. I do _not_.”

“Yes you do,” said Chloe, giggling.

“No I don’t.”

“Yes you do.”

“No I don’t!”

“Yes you –”

Beca shut Chloe up by kissing her.

She was never going to get tired of doing that.

They only got one day to recover before the campers got too excited and demanded they tell their story at the evening campfire. Thanks to the amazing healing powers of the Apollo kids, Beca’s and Chloe’s wounds were drastically healed in the time span of just twenty-four hours, and they found themselves standing on the stage of the amphitheater while everyone sat in the seats around them with roasted marshmallows and baited breath.

So Beca talked about their adventures and Chloe stepped in when she choked up about Jordan and the campers listened intently with the occasional “oohs” and “aahs.” Everyone looked shocked when Chloe told them that John Smith had been the thief, and Stacie muttered, “Knew there was something off about him.”

“So then we convinced Hades we were innocent and gave him back Cerberus. He gave us plane tickets back to Manhattan and Zeus surprisingly didn’t blow us out of the sky, so,” said Chloe. “Well, here we are. That’s all.”

The campers cheered when they finished. Beca caught Chiron the centaur’s eye in the crowd and he gave her a thumbs up. Her heart swelled with pride and happiness, which only heightened even more when she felt Chloe reach for her hand and intertwine their fingers.

A mob, led by Stacie and Donald, charged up the stage and picked Beca and Chloe up on their shoulders, chanting their names. She could see all her friends hefting her up, shouting in victory, with admiration in their eyes.

Everyone wanted to sit next to the two of them around the campfire, but Beca made sure to sit next to Jesse and her other friends, listening and laughing as they regaled her with stories of what had gone on in her absence.

She didn’t let go of Chloe’s hand until an older girl approached her tentatively, tapping her on the shoulder.

Beca turned around.

“Hey, Beca Mitchell, right?” the girl asked. She bounced lightly on her feet. “I’m Lou Ellen. I just got back from Circe’s Island. You’re a daughter of Hecate too, right?”

“You’re my sister?” Beca almost shouted.

“Yeah!” Lou Ellen responded excitedly.

Beca jumped up from her seat and was engulfed in a hug. “Thank the gods one of you finally appeared,” she said. “Now you can show me all the ropes.”

“Are you kidding me?” said Lou Ellen, laughing. “After that stunt you pulled with the whole quest thing? I’m pretty sure you’re way stronger than I am.”

Eventually the rowdiness died down a few hours past midnight, and campers began trudging back to their cabins to sleep. Beca started to follow them, but stopped when Chloe grabbed her wrist from behind.

“Follow me,” she whispered into Beca’s ear.

They went in the opposite direction of everyone else. Gradually, the night became quiet again. Beca blindly followed Chloe’s lead until they ended up in a secluded area on the edge of the lake.

“Just wanted some alone time with you,” said Chloe, her smile illuminated in the moonlight. Beca smiled back, because she couldn’t help it.

They sat down together on the top of the slope above the bank, watching the water ripple slightly in the cool night breeze. The two of them sat like that for a while, just holding hands and looking out onto the glassy black expanse. Stars shone in the sky.

It was beautiful.

“So July fourth is in three days,” Chloe said after a beat of comfortable silence. “Every year the Hephaestus kids rig up a really sweet fireworks show and set it off over this lake. I was wondering if you wanted to come watch it with me.”

Beca’s smile grew even wider. “Are you asking me out on a date?”

“I am,” said Chloe contentedly. “So? Will you?”

“Nah,” said Beca.

Chloe glared at her. “Please?”

“Of course I will, sillyhead,” said Beca, laughing, and she leaned in to kiss Chloe. Chloe kissed her back.

Beca didn’t want to stop. So she didn’t.

And Chloe didn’t either, until they heard the cracking of a branch behind them.

“I _knew_ they’d snuck off here to make out!” someone was yelling, their voice full of glee. “I _told_ you they’d end up sucking each other’s faces off! Don’t mess with a child of Aphrodite’s gaydar!”

Stacie burst from the trees behind them, followed by a mob of their friends.

“Pick ‘em up!” Jesse hollered.

Aubrey grabbed Beca and Benji and Donald each took Chloe into their arms, hoisting the two of them into the air. Beca’s felt her face go completely red, but she caught sight of Chloe laughing and she began laughing as well. Their friends were yelling and carrying them down to the lake.

“Holy shit!” Beca had time to scream before they dunked her and Chloe into the water.

The lake was a little chilly, but Beca was so heated up from being embarrassed that she barely felt it. She broke the surface of the water, gasping for breath and laughing at the same time, dog paddling towards where she thought Chloe was.

Chloe grabbed Beca into a hug when she surfaced. Their friends were still yelling at them from the shore, but all Beca could feel was Chloe wrapped around her, smiling and laughing and even though they were soaking wet, Beca had never felt happier in her life.

“Hello,” said Chloe.

“Hey,” said Beca back, grinning broadly.

Chloe kissed her.

Their friends yelled even louder.

When she pulled away, Chloe’s eyes were twinkling with mischief. “Come and get us!” she yelled to the campers on the shore, and she kicked away, grabbing Beca’s hand and indicating for her to follow.

Some people like Aubrey looked like they were ready to give up and head back, but then Fat Amy let out a battle cry and cannonballed into the lake. Jesse followed in shortly after, and before long, all their friends were out in the lake, splashing wildly after them. Chloe had to pull Beca along, she was laughing so hard.

Their impromptu two-in-the-morning lake swim was interrupted by a bunch of patrol harpies screeching at them to go to bed. But as Beca dragged herself onto the shore with her friends and tried to squeeze as much water out of her clothes as possible, she could tell the harpies were just as amused as they were.

“That was enough excitement for a lifetime,” Jesse huffed, shaking his hair wildly. Water droplets flew out in every direction, splashing Beca in the face. “See you tomorrow, little hero!”

Beca finally ended up back in the Hecate cabin after Chloe pulled her aside when no one was watching and stole a few more kisses. As she stepped into the dark room, she caught sight of Lou Ellen chilling in the bunk across from hers with the cheekiest grin on her face.

“Shut up,” said Beca.

“I didn’t say anything,” Lou Ellen responded in a singsong voice.

Beca managed to get changed into a clean set of clothes and then passed out onto her bed with a smile on her face.


End file.
